Delayed feedback control of phase synchronisation in a neuronal network model

Abstract The human cerebral cortex can be separated into cortical areas forming a clustered network structure. We build two different clustered networks, where one network is based on a healthy brain and the other according to a brain affected by a neurodegenerative process. Each cortical area has a subnetwork with small-world properties. We verify that both networks exhibit rich-club organisation and phase synchronisation. Due to the fact that neuronal synchronisation can be related to brain diseases, we consider the delayed feedback control as a method to suppress synchronous behaviours. In this work, it is presented that depending on the feedback parameters, intensity and time delay, phase synchronisation in both networks can be suppressed. Therefore, one of our main results is to show that delayed feedback control can be used to suppress undesired synchronous behaviours not only in the healthy brain, but also in the brain marked by neurodegenerative processes.