PERIODIC-ORBITS - A NEW LANGUAGE FOR NEURONAL DYNAMICS

A new nonlinear dynamical analysis is applied to complex behavior from neuronal systems. The conceptual foundation of this analysis is the a bstraction of observed neuronal activities into a dynamical landscape characterized by a hierarchy of ''unstable periodic orbits'' (UPOs). U POs are rigorously identified in data sets representative of three dif ferent levels of organization in mammalian brain. An analysis based on UPOs affords a novel alternative method of decoding, predicting, and controlling these neuronal systems.