Leading authorities in the field review current experimental and theoretical knowledge oncriticality and brain function.The book begins by summarizing experimental evidence for criticality and self-organizedcriticality in the brain. Subsequently, important breakthroughs in modeling of critical neuronal circuits and how to establish self-organized criticality in the brain are described.A milestone publication, defining upcoming directions of research in this new fi eld and set to become the primary source of information on the brain and criticality.

DIETMAR PLENZ is Chief of the Section on Critical Brain Dynamics in the Intramural Research Program at the National Institute of Mental Health. He received his Ph.D. in 1993 at the Max-Planck Institute of Biological Cybernetics and the University Tuebingen. Dr. Plenz joined the NIMH as an Investigator in 1999. He pioneered the development of in vitro networks to study and identify the emergence of neuronal avalanches in the brain. ERNST NIEBUR is Professor of Neuroscience and of Brain and Psychological Sciences at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA. He holds degrees in Physics from the Universities of Dortmund, Germany and Lausanne, Switzerland, and a postgraduate certificate in Artificial Intelligence from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL). Prof. Niebur has authored more than 100 scientific articles in physics and computational neuroscience. HEINZ GEORG SCHUSTER is Professor (em.) of Theoretical Physics at the University of Kiel in Germany. At the beginning of his academic career, he was appointed Professor at the University of Frankfurt am Main in Germany. He was a visiting professor at the Weizmann-Institute of Science in Israel and at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, USA. He is author and editor of research monographs and topical handbooks on chaos theory, nonlinear dynamics and neural networks, but also on popular science books, and editor of a Wiley series on Nonlinear Physics and Complexity.

Neuronal Avalanches in Cortical Networks Dietmar Plenz The Dynamic Brain in Action: Coordinative Structures, Criticality and Coordination Dynamics J. A. Scott Kelso Critical Brain Dynamics at Large Scale Dante R Chialvo The Correlation of the Neuronal Long-range Temporal Correlations, Avalanche Dynamics with the Behavioral Scaling Laws and Interindividual Variability J. Matias Palva and Satu Palva The Turbulent Human Brain Arnold. J. Mandell, Stephen E. Robinson, Karen A. Selz, Constance Schrader, Tom Holroyd and Richard Coppola Thermodynamic Model of Criticality in the Cortex Based on EEG/ECoG Data Robert Kozma, Marko Puljic and Walter J. Freeman Neuronal Avalanches in the Human Brain Oren Shriki and Dietmar Plenz Critical Slowing and Perception Karl Friston, Michael Breakspear and Gustavo Deco Self-organized Criticality in Neural Network Models Matthias Rybarsch and Stefan Bornholdt Single Neuron Response Fluctuations: A Self-organized Criticality Point of View Asaf Gal and Shimon Marom Activity Dependent Model for Neuronal Avalanches Lucilla de Arcangelis and Hans J. Herrmann The Neuronal Network Oscillation as a Critical Phenomenon Richard Hardstone, Huibert D. Mansvelder, Klaus Linkenkaer-Hansen Critical Exponents, Universality Class& Thermodynamic: The "Temperature" Of the Brain Shan Yu, Hongdian Yang, Oren Shriki and Dietmar Plenz Peak Variability and Optimal Performance in Cortical Networks at Criticality Hongdian Yang, Woodrow L. Shew, Rajarshy Roy, and Dietmar Plenz Criticality At Work: How Do Critical Networks Respond to Stimuli? Mauro Copelli Critical Dynamics in Complex Networks Daniel B. Larremore, Woodrow L. Shew, Juan G. Restrepo Mechanisms of Self-organized Criticality in Adaptive Networks Thilo Gross, Anne-Ly Do, Felix Droste, and Christian Meisel Cortical Networks with Lognormal Synaptic Connectivity and their Implications in Neuronal Avalanches Tomoki Fukai, Vladimir Klinshov and Jun-nosuke Teramae Jump Right In: Transitions to Criticality in Neural Systems with Dynamic Synapses Anna Levina, J. Michael Herrmann, Theo Geisel Non-conservative Neuronal Networks During Up states Self-organize Near Critical Points Stefan Mihalas, Daniel Millman, Ramakrishnan Iyer, Alfredo Kirkwood and Ernst Niebur Self-organized Criticality and Near Criticality in Neural Networks J. D. Cowan, J. Neuman, and W. van Drongelen Neural Dynamics: Criticality, Cooperation, Avalanches and Entrainment between Complex Networks P. Grigolini, M. Zare, A. Svenkeson, B. J. West Complex Networks: From Social Crises to Neuronal Avalanches B. J. West, M. Turalska and P. Grigolini The Dynamics of Neuromodulation Gerhard Werner and Bernhard J. Mitterauer