Rossi Kalel L, Budzinski Roberto C, Medeiros Everton S, Boaretto Bruno R R, Muller Lyle, Feudel Ulrike
Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Theoretical Physics/Complex Systems, ICBM, 26129 Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, Germany.
Western University, Department of Mathematics and Western Institute for Neuroscience, N6A 3K7 London, Ontario, Canada.
Phys Rev E. 2025 Feb;111(2-1):021001. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.111.021001.
Metastability, characterized by a variability of regimes in time, is a ubiquitous type of neural dynamics. It has been formulated in many different ways in the neuroscience literature, however, which may cause some confusion. In this Perspective, we discuss metastability from the point of view of dynamical systems theory. We extract from the literature a very simple but general definition through the concept of metastable regimes as long-lived but transient epochs of activity with unique dynamical properties. This definition serves as an umbrella term that encompasses formulations from other works, and readily connects to concepts from dynamical systems theory. This allows us to examine general dynamical properties of metastable regimes, propose in a didactic manner several dynamics-based mechanisms that generate them, and discuss a theoretical tool to characterize them quantitatively. This Perspective leads to insights that help to address issues debated in the literature and also suggests pathways for future research.
以时间上的状态变化为特征的亚稳定性是一种普遍存在的神经动力学类型。然而，它在神经科学文献中有多种不同的表述方式，这可能会引起一些混淆。在这篇观点文章中，我们从动力系统理论的角度来讨论亚稳定性。我们通过亚稳定状态的概念，从文献中提炼出一个非常简单但通用的定义，即具有独特动力学特性的长寿命但短暂的活动时期。这个定义作为一个总括性术语，涵盖了其他研究中的表述方式，并能很容易地与动力系统理论中的概念相联系。这使我们能够研究亚稳定状态的一般动力学特性，以一种便于理解的方式提出几种基于动力学的产生亚稳定状态的机制，并讨论一种对其进行定量表征的理论工具。这篇观点文章带来的见解有助于解决文献中争论的问题，也为未来的研究指明了方向。
