Small-world network and neuroscience

Small-world networks are of great significance in the field of neuroscience. As the universal nature of the human brain network, their heterogeneous pattern of change in patients with different diseases may satisfy the need for auxiliary objective diagnostic tests. In recent years, combining non-invasive neuroimaging techniques (e.g., magnetic resonance imaging, electroencephalography, and magnetoencephalography) with graph-theory-based brain network topology analysis has provided a new direction for exploring neuroscience. In addition, researchers found more possible features for studying the diagnosis and treatment of neurological or psychiatric disorders based on the human brain's structural and functional connectivity patterns. Therefore, this review introduces the importance of small-world networks in neuroscience and the contribution of brain network topology analysis in treating and diagnosing mental and neurological disorders. It also summarizes the effects of lifestyle habits, the environment, and some novel therapeutic modalities on small-world brain networks. It concludes by discussing head-movement errors in the brain network topology analysis.