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Science 15 June 2007:
Vol. 316. no. 5831, pp. 1609 - 1612
DOI: 10.1126/science.1139597
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Reports

Modulation of Neuronal Interactions Through Neuronal Synchronization

Thilo Womelsdorf,1*{dagger} Jan-Mathijs Schoffelen,1*{dagger} Robert Oostenveld,1 Wolf Singer,2,3 Robert Desimone,4,5 Andreas K. Engel,6 Pascal Fries1,7

Brain processing depends on the interactions between neuronal groups. Those interactions are governed by the pattern of anatomical connections and by yet unknown mechanisms that modulate the effective strength of a given connection. We found that the mutual influence among neuronal groups depends on the phase relation between rhythmic activities within the groups. Phase relations supporting interactions between the groups preceded those interactions by a few milliseconds, consistent with a mechanistic role. These effects were specific in time, frequency, and space, and we therefore propose that the pattern of synchronization flexibly 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.

{dagger} 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.)

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