DEVELOPMENT OF THERAPEUTIC BRAIN STIMULATION TECHNIQUES WITH METHODS FROM NONLINEAR DYNAMICS AND STATISTICAL PHYSICS

Synchronization processes may severely impair brain function, for instance, in Parkinson's disease, essential tremor or epilepsies. We present three different effectively desynchronizing stimulation techniques which have been developed with methods from nonlinear dynamics and statistical physics. These techniques exploit either stochastic phase resetting principles or complex delayed feedback mechanisms. We explain how these methods work and how they can be applied to therapeutic brain stimulation.