Focused Review ARTICLE

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Temporal interactions between cortical rhythms

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Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK
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Department of Mathematics, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
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School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK
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Neurosciences CEDD, GlaxoSmithkline plc, Harlow, Essex, UK
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IBM TJ Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY, USA
Multiple local neuronal circuits support different, discrete frequencies of network rhythm in neocortex. Relationships between different frequencies correspond to mechanisms designed to minimise interference, couple activity via stable phase interactions, and control the amplitude of one frequency relative to the phase of another. These mechanisms are proposed to form a framework for spectral information processing. Individual local circuits can also transform their frequency through changes in intrinsic neuronal properties and interactions with other oscillating microcircuits. Here we discuss a frequency transformation in which activity in two co-active local circuits may combine sequentially to generate a third frequency whose period is the concatenation sum of the original two. With such an interaction, the intrinsic periodicity in each component local circuit is preserved – alternate, single periods of each original rhythm form one period of a new frequency – suggesting a robust mechanism for combining information processed on multiple concurrent spatiotemporal scales.
Keywords:
EEG, neocortex, gamma rhythm, beta rhythm, inhibition
Citation:
Roopun AK, Kramer MA, Carracedo LM, Kaiser M, Davies CH, Traub RD, Kopell NJ and Whittington MA (2008). Temporal interactions between cortical rhythms. Front. Neurosci. 2,2: 145-154. doi: 10.3389/neuro.01.034.2008
Received:
22 September 2008;
 Paper pending published:
09 November 2008;
Accepted:
09 November 2008;
 Published online:
15 December 2008.

Edited by:

Alexander Borst, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Germany

Reviewed by:

Pascal Fries, Radboud University, The Netherlands
Wolf Singer, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Germany
Copyright:
© 2008 Roopun, Kramer, Carracedo, Kaiser, Davies, Traub, Kopell and Whittington. This is an open-access article subject to an exclusive license agreement between the authors and the Frontiers Research Foundation, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited.
*Correspondence:
M.A.Whittington, Institute of Neuroscience, The Medical School, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle NE2 4HH, UK. e-mail: m.a.whittington@ncl.ac.uk
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