Figure 8. Schematic plot of the attractors modified from Hauptmann et al.⁶⁶ describing the dynamical model of epileptic absence seizure characterized by Spike (‘S’) and wave (‘W’) discharges (SWD) or normal background state.

(a) kindling (green arrows) and (b) anti-kindling (red arrows) stimulation can drive the neuronal population indicated by the ball from one attractor beyond the critical position (pink triangles) to another. (c) Phase space portrait showing the bistable region between stable focus (fixed point, red ball) and SWD (stable limit cycle). In the bistable region there exists a separating manifold indicated by the sphere (analogous to the critical positions indicated by pink triangles in (a,b)) between the two states in five dimensional state space. State transitions between the non-seizure and SWD states can occur when the stimulus indicated by the green and red arrows beyond the separatrix occurs.