Researchers identified a new class of traveling brain waves that rotate over space and time. The study reveals that these vortex-like waves are driven by a unique, circular “merry-go-round” architectural layout of neurons in the sensory cortex.

Operating globally, these spiral waves synchronize activity across hemispheres, between sensory and motor networks, and down into deep subcortical structures—acting as a spatiotemporal clock to coordinate sensation, predict sequences, and guide voluntary physical action. — Read More

Like a stadium full of sports fans doing the wave, neurons coordinate their electrical signals in rhythmic patterns that sweep across the cortex, the brain’s outermost layer. Recent studies in humans and animals have shown these patterns, called traveling waves, can take on complex shapes, among them a rotating spiral that has been observed during deep sleep, memory retrieval, and other brain processes. A new study has now captured the fast-spinning waves spanning whole brains, offering clues to how they’re organized and what they might do.

The study, published today in Science, examined the brains of mice using multiple recording and imaging methods to reveal brainwide patterns that unite disparate regions from the cortex to the deep brain. The research suggests rotating waves have a key role in coordinating the flow of information across the brain to support perception and behavior. It also offers an explanation for the waves’ spiral pattern by showing that they move along a circular path laid by axons—the long projections of neurons. — Read More