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Modulation of Neuronal Interactions Through Neuronal Synchronization
Thilo Womelsdorf,1*Jan-Mathijs Schoffelen,1*Robert Oostenveld,1Wolf Singer,2,3Robert Desimone,4,5Andreas K. Engel,6Pascal Fries1,7
Brain processing depends on the interactions between neuronalgroups. Those interactions are governed by the pattern of anatomicalconnections and by yet unknown mechanisms that modulate theeffective strength of a given connection. We found that themutual influence among neuronal groups depends on the phaserelation between rhythmic activities within the groups. Phaserelations supporting interactions between the groups precededthose interactions by a few milliseconds, consistent with amechanistic role. These effects were specific in time, frequency,and space, and we therefore propose that the pattern of synchronizationflexibly determines the pattern of neuronal interactions.
1 F. C. Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6525 EN Nijmegen, Netherlands. 2 Department of Neurophysiology, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, 60528 Frankfurt, Germany. 3 Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, 60438 Frankfurt, Germany. 4 Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. 5 McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. 6 Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany. 7 Department of Biophysics, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6525 EZ Nijmegen, Netherlands.
* These authors contributed equally to this work.
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: thilo.womelsdorf{at}fcdonders.ru.nl (T.W.); jan.schoffelen{at}fcdonders.ru.nl (J.-M.S.)
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: 
