by Russo R, Herrmann HJ, de Arcangelis L
Abstract:
The human brain exhibits a complex structure made of scale-free highly connected modules loosely interconnected by weaker links to form a small-world network. These features appear in healthy patients whereas neurological diseases often modify this structure. An important open question concerns the role of brain modularity in sustaining the critical behaviour of spontaneous activity. Here we analyse the neuronal activity of a model, successful in reproducing on non-modular networks the scaling behaviour observed in experimental data, on a modular network implementing the main statistical features measured in human brain. We show that on a modular network, regardless the strength of the synaptic connections or the modular size and number, activity is never fully scale-free. Neuronal avalanches can invade different modules which results in an activity depression, hindering further avalanche propagation. Critical behaviour is solely recovered if inter-module connections are added, modifying the modular into a more random structure.
Reference:
Brain modularity controls the critical behavior of spontaneous activity (Russo R, Herrmann HJ, de Arcangelis L), In SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, volume 4, 2014. (Articolo in rivista)
Bibtex Entry:
@article{rus14,
author = {Russo R, and Herrmann HJ, and de Arcangelis L,},
pages = {4312-1-4312-5},
title = {Brain modularity controls the critical
behavior of spontaneous activity},
volume = {4},
note = {Articolo in rivista},
issn = {2045-2322},
journal = {SCIENTIFIC REPORTS},
doi = {10.1038/srep04312},
year = {2014},
wosId = {WOS:000332715800001},
scopusId = {2-s2.0-84907646514},
abstract = {The human brain exhibits a complex structure made of scale-free highly connected modules loosely
interconnected by weaker links to form a small-world network. These features appear in healthy patients
whereas neurological diseases often modify this structure. An important open question concerns the role of
brain modularity in sustaining the critical behaviour of spontaneous activity. Here we analyse the neuronal
activity of a model, successful in reproducing on non-modular networks the scaling behaviour observed in
experimental data, on a modular network implementing the main statistical features measured in human
brain. We show that on a modular network, regardless the strength of the synaptic connections or the
modular size and number, activity is never fully scale-free. Neuronal avalanches can invade different
modules which results in an activity depression, hindering further avalanche propagation. Critical
behaviour is solely recovered if inter-module connections are added, modifying the modular into a more
random structure.}
}