The role of local and large-scale neuronal synchronization in human cognition

Human cognitive functions are subjectively coherent even though the underlying neuronal processing is achieved in many cortical regions in parallel. A number of animal electrophysiological studies have shown that neuronal synchronization may be a mechanism for the integration of such anatomically distributed neuronal processing as well as for the regulation of neuronal communication within these distributed networks. However, less is known about the functional and behavioral significance of the synchronization of neuronal oscillations in human brains. In recent years, several advancements have been made in source localization of the locally and large-scale synchronized networks by using noninvasive human magneto- and electroencephalography (EEG and MEG). These data have revealed the first glimpses into the structures of cortical networks underlying perceptual, attentional, and working memory functions