Complex Brain Networks
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Recent research has revealed general principles in the structural and functional organization of complex networks in a surpriisingly wide range of natural, social and technological systems. Networs as diverse as internet connectivity, metabolism paths in cell functions, and networks of neural tissue, appear to exhibit many similar organizing principles, including small world and scale free properties.
What can an investigation of network structure and dynamics contribute to our understandinf of brain and cognitive function? Research in this area has centered on the evolution of associative memories, where the length of connections is a resource that we attempt to conserve and minimize, while maintaining correct and efficient functionality (e.g. memory recall). When connection length is added as a constraint while evolving solutions, scale free properties naturally self-organize as a good functional solution.