(July 27, 2015) Like
Duke Ellington’s 1931 jazz standard, the human brain improvises while its
rhythm section keeps up a steady beat. But when it comes to taking on
intellectually challenging tasks, groups of neurons tune in to one another for
a fraction of a second and harmonize, then go back to improvising, according to
new research led by UC Berkeley.
These findings, reported today in the journal Nature
Neuroscience, could pave the way for more targeted treatments for people with
brain disorders marked by fast, slow or chaotic brain waves, also known as
neural oscillations.
Tracking the changing rhythms of the healthy human brain at
work advances our understanding of such disorders as Parkinson’s disease,
schizophrenia and even autism, which are characterized in part by offbeat brain
rhythms. In jazz lingo, for example, bands of neurons in certain mental
illnesses may be malfunctioning because they’re tuning in to blue notes, or
playing double time or half time.
“The human brain has 86 billion or so neurons all trying to
talk to each other in this incredibly messy, noisy and electrochemical soup,”
said study lead author Bradley Voytek. “Our results help explain the mechanism
for how brain networks quickly come together and break apart as needed.”