The emergence of synchrony in networks of mutually inferring neurons

Abstract This paper considers the emergence of a generalised synchrony in ensembles of coupled self-organising systems, such as neurons. We start from the premise that any self-organising system complies with the free energy principle, in virtue of placing an upper bound on its entropy. Crucially, the free energy principle allows one to interpret biological systems as inferring the state of their environment or external milieu. An emergent property of this inference is synchronisation among an ensemble of systems that infer each other. Here, we investigate the implications of neuronal dynamics by simulating neuronal networks, where each neuron minimises its free energy. We cast the ensuing ensemble dynamics in terms of inference and show that cardinal behaviours of neuronal networks – both in vivo and in vitro – can be explained by this framework. In particular, we test the hypotheses that (i) generalised synchrony is an emergent property of free energy minimisation; thereby explaining synchronisation in the resting brain: (ii) desynchronisation is induced by exogenous input; thereby explaining event-related desynchronisation and (iii) structure learning emerges in response to causal structure in exogenous input; thereby explaining functional segregation in real neuronal systems.