Neural Oscillation

neural oscillation, synchronized rhythmic patterns of electrical activity produced by neurons in the brain, spinal cord, and autonomic nervous system.

Oscillations, in general, are a reflection of a balanced interaction between two or more forces. In the brain, they typically reflect competition between excitation and inhibition. Balance between the two is relative, and, within the oscillation cycle, excitation and inhibition prevail at different phases. This has two major effects. First, oscillations are energetically the most efficient way of synchronizing neurons and forming neuronal assemblies, and, thus, many excitatory neurons can be synchronized in a limited phase range, sending messages to downstream structures within the “sending” phase. Second, in its “receiving” (or perturbation) phase, the network can respond most effectively to upstream inputs.

The first brain pattern observed by recording electrical activity from the scalp (electroencephalogram, EEG) was an oscillation (alpha rhythm), detected by German psychiatrist Hans Berger in the 1920s. The first neuronal population pattern that emerges during development is also a rhythm, known as delta brush.