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Understanding the dynamics of biological and neural oscillator networks through exact mean-field reductions : a review

Bick, Christian ; Goodfellow, Marc ; Laing, Carlo R. and Martens, Erik A. LU orcid (2020) In Journal of Mathematical Neuroscience 10(1).
Abstract

Many biological and neural systems can be seen as networks of interacting periodic processes. Importantly, their functionality, i.e., whether these networks can perform their function or not, depends on the emerging collective dynamics of the network. Synchrony of oscillations is one of the most prominent examples of such collective behavior and has been associated both with function and dysfunction. Understanding how network structure and interactions, as well as the microscopic properties of individual units, shape the emerging collective dynamics is critical to find factors that lead to malfunction. However, many biological systems such as the brain consist of a large number of dynamical units. Hence, their analysis has either relied... (More)

Many biological and neural systems can be seen as networks of interacting periodic processes. Importantly, their functionality, i.e., whether these networks can perform their function or not, depends on the emerging collective dynamics of the network. Synchrony of oscillations is one of the most prominent examples of such collective behavior and has been associated both with function and dysfunction. Understanding how network structure and interactions, as well as the microscopic properties of individual units, shape the emerging collective dynamics is critical to find factors that lead to malfunction. However, many biological systems such as the brain consist of a large number of dynamical units. Hence, their analysis has either relied on simplified heuristic models on a coarse scale, or the analysis comes at a huge computational cost. Here we review recently introduced approaches, known as the Ott–Antonsen and Watanabe–Strogatz reductions, allowing one to simplify the analysis by bridging small and large scales. Thus, reduced model equations are obtained that exactly describe the collective dynamics for each subpopulation in the oscillator network via few collective variables only. The resulting equations are next-generation models: Rather than being heuristic, they exactly link microscopic and macroscopic descriptions and therefore accurately capture microscopic properties of the underlying system. At the same time, they are sufficiently simple to analyze without great computational effort. In the last decade, these reduction methods have become instrumental in understanding how network structure and interactions shape the collective dynamics and the emergence of synchrony. We review this progress based on concrete examples and outline possible limitations. Finally, we discuss how linking the reduced models with experimental data can guide the way towards the development of new treatment approaches, for example, for neurological disease.

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author
; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
keywords
Coupled oscillators, Kuramoto model, Mean-field reductions, Network dynamics, Neural masses, Neural networks, Ott–Antonsen reduction, Quadratic integrate-and-fire neurons, Structured networks, Theta neuron model, Watanabe–Strogatz reduction, Winfree model
in
Journal of Mathematical Neuroscience
volume
10
issue
1
article number
9
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • pmid:32462281
  • scopus:85085510449
ISSN
2190-8567
DOI
10.1186/s13408-020-00086-9
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
92f6ff3c-9797-4be2-85d0-7ebf84f1ab54
date added to LUP
2021-03-19 21:20:25
date last changed
2024-04-18 04:48:21
@article{92f6ff3c-9797-4be2-85d0-7ebf84f1ab54,
  abstract     = {{<p>Many biological and neural systems can be seen as networks of interacting periodic processes. Importantly, their functionality, i.e., whether these networks can perform their function or not, depends on the emerging collective dynamics of the network. Synchrony of oscillations is one of the most prominent examples of such collective behavior and has been associated both with function and dysfunction. Understanding how network structure and interactions, as well as the microscopic properties of individual units, shape the emerging collective dynamics is critical to find factors that lead to malfunction. However, many biological systems such as the brain consist of a large number of dynamical units. Hence, their analysis has either relied on simplified heuristic models on a coarse scale, or the analysis comes at a huge computational cost. Here we review recently introduced approaches, known as the Ott–Antonsen and Watanabe–Strogatz reductions, allowing one to simplify the analysis by bridging small and large scales. Thus, reduced model equations are obtained that exactly describe the collective dynamics for each subpopulation in the oscillator network via few collective variables only. The resulting equations are next-generation models: Rather than being heuristic, they exactly link microscopic and macroscopic descriptions and therefore accurately capture microscopic properties of the underlying system. At the same time, they are sufficiently simple to analyze without great computational effort. In the last decade, these reduction methods have become instrumental in understanding how network structure and interactions shape the collective dynamics and the emergence of synchrony. We review this progress based on concrete examples and outline possible limitations. Finally, we discuss how linking the reduced models with experimental data can guide the way towards the development of new treatment approaches, for example, for neurological disease.</p>}},
  author       = {{Bick, Christian and Goodfellow, Marc and Laing, Carlo R. and Martens, Erik A.}},
  issn         = {{2190-8567}},
  keywords     = {{Coupled oscillators; Kuramoto model; Mean-field reductions; Network dynamics; Neural masses; Neural networks; Ott–Antonsen reduction; Quadratic integrate-and-fire neurons; Structured networks; Theta neuron model; Watanabe–Strogatz reduction; Winfree model}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Journal of Mathematical Neuroscience}},
  title        = {{Understanding the dynamics of biological and neural oscillator networks through exact mean-field reductions : a review}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13408-020-00086-9}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/s13408-020-00086-9}},
  volume       = {{10}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}