Complex network synchronization: a bridge from structure to function

Many real-world systems display complicated interaction
structures among their sub-units, forming complex networks.
Examples of complex networks in neuro- and cognitive sciences include
neural networks, cortical and functional connectivity of brain
and language, etc.
Recent research has revealed general organization principles
in the structure of complex networks. A problem of fundamental
importance is to understand the impact of network structure
on its dynamical properties. Here we study phase synchronization
of generic nonlinear oscillators on the nodes of complex
networks. We have identified an important ingredient in the
complex structure of random networks that governs universally the
synchronization properties of complex networks.
The results based on the network of cat cortical connectivity may shed
some light into the relationship between the cortical connectivity
and the functional connectivity of brain.