The basal ganglia are a group of interconnected subcortical nuclei, which are involved in neural control of movement and are impacted in Parkinson’s disease. This disease is marked by an increase in synchronized oscillatory activity. Understanding the dynamical nature of this synchronization is essential for the understanding of the brain function and for the search of new treatment strategies. Moreover, this experimentally observed dynamics signifies the interest in the mathematical studies of intermittent complex dynamics of synchronous oscillations.

I will present the results of the study of the fine temporal structure of the synchronous activity in the experimental data and in the mathematical models of parkinsonian physiology. While the synchrony is essentially a non-instantaneous phenomenon, if some level of phase-locking between two signals is present, we can study how this phase-locking disappears and returns in time. I will describe this time-series analysis approach and will present the results for the data recorded in the human patients. This dynamics is further studied in the models of neural circuits (conductance-based models in the form of ordinary differential equations), where we can identify what properties are needed for generation of this kind of dynamics. I will discuss the implications of the experimental and modeling study for the function and dysfunction of the human brain.

No expertise in neurophysiology of Parkinson’s disease is expected by the speaker, who intends to emphasize the dynamical, rather than medical aspects.