Net effect of frustration in hub-dominated networks

Determine whether, in networks featuring hubs and phase frustration, the frustrated interactions cancel to promote integration and synchronization or instead amplify desynchronization.

Background

The discussion notes that hub nodes average the phases of their neighbors, raising the question of whether frustration in such topologies aids integration or hinders it. The answer likely depends on whether lags are uniform or heterogeneous and whether delays are introduced via an underlying metric space.

This uncertainty highlights a key mechanistic question for extending the current minimal hierarchical model to more realistic brain-like topologies.

References

In the presence of frustration, it is unclear if the frustrations get cancelled out, promoting integration and synchronization, or have the opposite effect.

— Emergence of metastability in frustrated oscillatory networks: the key role of hierarchical modularity  (2405.14542 - Caprioglio et al., 2024) in Section 4 (Discussion)