# Effective Connectivity **Domain:** Neuroscience / Network Science / Systems Theory **Doc Type:** Technical Concept Node **Maturity:** Established analytical concept **Related:** structural connectivity, functional connectivity, [[Traveling Waves]], [[Neural Plasticity]], [[Connectomics]] --- ## Definition **Effective connectivity** describes directed causal influence among neural populations: which parts of a network are functionally capable of changing other parts under a particular condition. It differs from structural connectivity, which concerns physical pathways, and from functional connectivity, which usually concerns statistical dependence. ## Corpus Context In [[articles/Analog Cognition and the Architecture of Continuity|Analog Cognition and the Architecture of Continuity]], the physical network remains comparatively stable while wave dynamics rapidly change which populations can participate and influence one another. This motivates the broader architectural distinction between structural topology and a faster-changing effective topology. ## See Also [[Neural Interfaces and Continuity Architecture]] · [[Computational Architecture]] · [[Control Theory]]