#19 · Systems biology

Whole-brain and neural mass models tested against brain criticality and oscillations

The common thread is the confrontation of network-level neural models with empirical data or formal stability analysis. The HCP-based whole-brain study proposes a Griffiths phase account of individual variability in brain criticality, the most explicitly empirical entry here. A 90-region model with PING gamma neural mass dynamics examines emergent spatiotemporal patterns through stability analysis. Asymmetric E-I firing-rate networks are analyzed with energy-based, game-theoretic, and stability frameworks that revisit Wilson-Cowan-type models, though this work remains theoretical. The unifying framework orders neural mass models from push-pull oscillators to coupled whole-brain networks. What is new is the use of individual-level heterogeneity in human brain data to test criticality accounts. The evidence differs in scale, modality, and degree of empirical testing across these preprints.