Critical dynamics arise during structured information presentation within embodied in vitro neuronal networks
Nature Communications August 30, 2023 Forough Habibollahi, Brett J. Kagan, A. Burkitt et al.
Cortical neurons grown in a dish and trained to play a simplified version of the video game Pong exhibit near-critical dynamics when they receive structured sensory input related to the task. Better game performance correlates with how close the network is to a critical state. However, criticality alone does not enable learning without feedback about the consequences of previous actions. The authors propose that neural criticality emerges as a basic feature of processing structured information, not requiring higher-order cognition.