Scale invariance in the dynamics of spontaneous behavior.

ABSTRACT: Typically one expects that the intervals between consecutive occurrences of a particular behavior will have a characteristic time scale around which most observations are centered. Surprisingly, the timing of many diverse behaviors from human communication to animal foraging form complex self-similar temporal patterns reproduced on multiple time scales. We present a general framework for understanding how such scale invariance may arise in nonequilibrium systems, including those that regulate mammalian behaviors. We then demonstrate that the predictions of this framework are in agreement with detailed analysis of spontaneous mouse behavior observed in a simple unchanging environment. Neural systems operate on a broad range of time scales, from milliseconds to hours. We analytically show th

SUBMITTER: Proekt A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3387096 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature