How does the brain create meaning from the enormous amount of information it constantly receives? According to neuroscientist Martin Vinck, the answer lies in large-scale integration: the way brain areas work together to enable thoughts, attention and consciousness. In December, Vinck was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant for his NONLIN project, marking a fundamental step in understanding this collaboration.
For years, it was thought that brain areas mainly communicate via rhythms that move at the same frequency. But research by Vinck and his colleagues shows that this view is too limited. Brain dynamics are heterogeneous, broadband and often not rhythmic at all. Moreover, many of the interactions measured turned out to be mainly the result of linear signal transmission, comparable to forwarding the same signal, and therefore not a true integration of information.
The NONLIN project therefore focuses on something else: non-linear, synergistic interactions. These can greatly amplify weak inputs, combine information sources and create new dynamic states - precisely the properties that, according to Vinck, are needed to explain phenomena such as attention, working memory and perception.
Vinck is developing new mathematical methods and predictive neural network models that, for the first time, can clearly distinguish between linear and non-linear interactions. These are tested on exceptionally rich existing datasets: large-scale intracranial measurements in humans and non-human primates, in collaboration with international partners. In doing so, the team aims to gather fundamental knowledge to, for example, discover new biomarkers for brain diseases or identify new stages of consciousness, which is important for deciding whether or not to continue patient care. All tools are made available as open source.
A unique hub in Nijmegen for research and education
The research is being carried out at the Donders Centre for Neuroscience (DCN), where computational and experimental neuroscience are exceptionally well integrated. This aligns perfectly with the NONLIN project, which encompasses both mathematical modelling and complex invasive brain measurements. Vinck is also a work package leader within the national Dutch Brain Interface Initiative (DBI˛), where similar principles are being investigated in the context of brain stimulation and epilepsy.
Vinck also emphasises the importance of education: "The Neurophysics Master’s programme is a unique combination of physics, mathematics, computational neuroscience and AI. This provides the ideal preparation for future PhD students who will be working on NONLIN. Several top talents have already joined the lab through this Master’s programme."
Scientific foundation: a series of leading publications
The grant builds on an impressive series of articles in leading journals such as Neuron and Nature Communications, in which Vinck’s group demonstrated the limitations of existing theories and formulated new fundamental principles of brain communication. With NONLIN, the Donders Institute is once again taking a major step forward in unravelling the dynamic, non-linear architecture of the thinking brain.