This is a corrected version of the manuscript and associated model schematic originally uploaded to Zenodo (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20553673). The correction concerns the terminology and description of two implementation parameters: the extinction probability (Pext) and the trace activation probability (Pact). In the originally uploaded version, these quantities were not clearly distinguished, creating the possibility that the value 0.25 could be interpreted as the extinction probability. In the archived scripts, however, the value 0.25 refers to the trace activation probability Pact, not to Pext. The simulations reported in the manuscript used deterministic removal of one selected extinction candidate per step when extinction candidates were present. Thus, the implemented extinction rule corresponds to Pext = 1 for the selected extinction candidate. Reinforced trace relations were converted into active directed edges with trace activation probability Pact = 0.25, provided that the maximum-neighbor constraint was not violated. This corrected version includes: 1. a corrected manuscript draft,2. a corrected Figure 1 / model schematic,3. a correction note explaining the Pext and Pact distinction,4. an implementation note / README,5. a sensitivity summary comparing Pext = 1.0 and Pact = 0.25. The archived scripts themselves were not modified in this correction, because the issue concerns parameter terminology and implementation description rather than a computational error in the scripts. Sensitivity analyses indicated that reducing Pext from 1.0 to 0.25 primarily slowed the time scale of node removal, while the qualitative (k)-threshold transition and the basic SCC / reciprocal two-cycle structure were preserved. Therefore, this update should be interpreted as a parameter-description correction, not as a change in the numerical outputs or qualitative conclusions of the main simulations.
Kumiko Saeki (Thu,) studied this question.