"We realized this would be a really cool and intuitive explanation for the core purpose of sleep," Hengen said. "At criticality, avalanches of all sizes and durations can occur. "The results suggest that every waking moment pushes relevant brain circuits away from criticality, and sleep helps the brain reset," Hengen said. The neural avalanches taking place in the brain are much like the avalanches of sand on a grid, Wessel said. "Criticality maximizes a bunch of features that sound very desirable for a brain," Hengen said.

Source: Hindustan Times January 14, 2024 15:25 UTC