What is a neuronal avalanche?

 title: 'Fig. 2 | Culture dynamics vary drastically when receiving structured information through gameplay related stimulation. Avalanche size and duration PDF plots and the calculated DCC values for 2 representative sample cortical cultures at a) Rest (i.e. Session 1) and b) Gameplay (i.e. Session 4) of the same experiment and'

Neuronal avalanches are cascades of propagating activity that follow power laws and are a hallmark of criticality[1]. They are contiguous cascades of spiking activity, rather than limited local bursts of spiking activity or huge network-wide spiking events[1]. The start and stop of an avalanche are determined by an activity threshold of the network[1].