Beware of the Small-World neuroscientist!
David Papo, Massimiliano Zanin, Johann H. Mart\'inez, and Javier M., Buld\'u
TL;DR
This paper critically examines the widespread use of the small-world measure in neuroscience, highlighting its computational simplicity and intuitive appeal, while also discussing known pitfalls and limitations of this network descriptor.
Contribution
It provides a critical analysis of the small-world measure's limitations and challenges its uncritical adoption in neuroscience research.
Findings
The small-world measure is popular due to ease of computation and intuitive appeal.
Recent studies have identified significant pitfalls and limitations of the small-world construct.
The paper encourages more rigorous evaluation of network measures in neuroscience.
Abstract
The SW has undeniably been one of the most popular network descriptors in the neuroscience literature. Two main reasons for its lasting popularity are its apparent ease of computation and the intuitions it is thought to provide on how networked systems operate. Over the last few years, some pitfalls of the SW construct and, more generally, of network summary measures, have widely been acknowledged.
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