Rhythmic Patterns in Neuroscience and Human Physiology

Nature is often periodic and its phenomena recurring, with patterns and harmonic structures repeated over time and space. Many mental processes and behaviors have already been described in these terms, that is, through the activation of interconnected neural populations that gives rise to global dynamic states, at the basis of human perception and cognition. However, although much research has been directed in this regard, it is not clear how anatomical connectivity interacts with the neuronal dynamics, from which complex human behavior emerge, i.e., rhythmic motor activity. Starting from the Hebbian theory that neurons that “fire together wire together”, interconnected signals, fractal structures and surprising relationships could emerge from the noise.

This Research Topic is therefore aimed at collecting research that looks to deepen the study of the dynamic systems at the base of complex human movements that enjoy the property of harmonic spatial and/or temporal structures, such as coordinated and/or synchronized movements. At the same time, seeking specific patterns among casual events could lead to the apophenic approach of pseudoscience that tend to mistakenly perceive connections and meanings between unrelated things. Hence, this Research Topic is targeted to researchers who deal with movement analysis, with the aim of obtaining an advanced understanding of human behavior combining measures based on physiological indices.

The innovative aspect of the submitted contributions will have to trace, on the basis of solid scientific proofs, the investigation of processes underlying the behaviors that can be defined as periodic, rhythmic, or oscillatory movements as well as the synchronization between different physiological systems, which can precisely be described as a pattern.