2014/02/28 by Pablo Villegas, Paolo Moretti, Miguel A. Muñoz · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Computer Science · Mathematics · Neuroscience · Physics and Astronomy · #Asynchronous communication #Attractor #Biology #Complex network #Computer science #Connectome #Connectomics #Functional Brain Connectivity Studies #Functional connectivity #Mathematics #Neural dynamics and brain function #Neuroscience #Nonlinear Dynamics and Pattern Formation #Phase synchronization #Physics #Statistical physics #Synchronization (alternating current) #Theoretical computer science #cond-mat.dis-nn #q-bio.NC
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/srep05990
published as Scientific reports 4 (2014) 5990 · 4 Figures
arxiv created 2014/07/03 · openalex publication_date 2014/08/08 · arxiv updated 2014/09/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The spontaneous emergence of coherent behavior through synchronization plays a key role in neural function, and its anomalies often lie at the basis of pathologies. Here we employ a parsimonious (mesoscopic) approach to study analytically and computationally the synchronization (Kuramoto) dynamics on the actual human-brain connectome network. We elucidate the existence of a so-far-uncovered intermediate phase, placed between the standard synchronous and asynchronous phases, i.e. between order and disorder. This novel phase stems from the hierarchical modular organization of the connectome. Where one would expect a hierarchical synchronization process, we show that the interplay between structural bottlenecks and quenched intrinsic frequency heterogeneities at many different scales, gives rise to frustrated synchronization, metastability, and chimera-like states, resulting in a very rich and complex phenomenology. We uncover the origin of the dynamic freezing behind these features by using spectral graph theory and discuss how the emerging complex synchronization patterns relate to the need for the brain to access -in a robust though flexible way- a large variety of functional attractors and dynamical repertoires without ad hoc fine-tuning to a critical point.