The persistent and broadly distributed EEG synchronization might inhibit the normal processing capability of the human brain.

Abstract Synchrony in the brain functioning describes the mode that the components are interacted and reflect the collective behaviour of neuronal assemblies. Nevertheless, the excessive and prolonged coupling among brain sites is relevant with disturbed information routing. In the present study we investigated the possibility that the sustained oscillatory states and the common mode in which several brain sites vary their functional connectivity inhibit the ability of the brain in perceiving and processing information. The hypothesis, that in many interacting systems, greater regularity–rhythmicity corresponds to grater component self-organization and isolation, is investigated in the case of thought blocks (under persistent auditory verbal hallucinations) and epileptic absences (under spike wave discharges). Our findings indicate that the observed common mode of coupling significantly restrains the normal flow of mental processes. This erroneous “connectivity mode” in the presence of symptoms such as thought blocks and absences respectively, was found to eliminate the spontaneous synchrony variability, essentially needed for the information processing, by fixating the functional specificity of the respected brain sites.