Cognitive function requires the coordination of neural activity across many scales, from neurons and circuits to large-scale networks. As such, it is unlikely that an explanatory framework focused upon any single scale will yield a comprehensive theory of brain activity and cognitive function. Modelling and analysis methods for neuroscience should aim to accommodate multiscale phenomena. Emerging research now suggests that multi-scale processes in the brain arise from so-called critical phenomena that occur very broadly in the natural world. Criticality arises in complex systems perched between order and disorder, and is marked by fluctuations that do not have any privileged spatial or temporal scale. We review the core nature of criticality, the evidence supporting its role in neural systems and its explanatory potential in brain health and disease.

认知功能需要协调从神经元和电路到大规模网络的许多规模的神经活动。因此，集中于任何单一尺度的解释性框架不可能产生大脑活动和认知功能的综合理论。神经科学的建模和分析方法应旨在适应多尺度现象。现在新兴的研究表明，大脑中的多尺度过程是由所谓的关键现象引起的，这些现象在自然界中广泛存在。临界点出现在有序和无序之间的复杂系统中，其特征是没有任何特权的时空尺度的波动。我们回顾了关键性的核心本质，