Is criticality a unified setpoint of brain function? by Keith B. Hengen & Woodrow L. Shew instant download

Is criticality a unified setpoint of brain function? by Keith B. Hengen & Woodrow L. Shew instant download

SUMMARYBrains face selective pressure to optimize computation, broadly defined. This is achieved by mechanismsincluding development, plasticity, and homeostasis. Is there a universal optimum around which the healthybrain tunes itself, across time and individuals? The criticality hypothesis posits such a setpoint. Criticality is astate imbued with internally generated, multiscale, marginally stable dynamics that maximize the featuresof information processing. Experimental support emerged two decades ago and has accumulated at anaccelerating pace despite disagreement. Here, we lay out the logic of criticality as a general computationalendpoint and review experimental evidence. We perform a meta-analysis of 140 datasets published between2003 and 2024. We find that a long-standing controversy is the product of a methodological choice with nobearing on underlying dynamics. Our results suggest that a new generation of research can leverage criticality—as a unifying principle of brain function—to accelerate understanding of behavior, cognition, anddisease.