Monotonicity in graph theoretic summaries of fMRI data acquired during human learning

This modest co-observance of monotonicity in behavior and fMRI-based connectomics re-emphasizes what has long been suspected: the relationship between overt measures of behavioral competence and the co-acquired imaging signals is complex. This may be because psychological events (whether in the healthy brain, or in clinical populations like schizophrenia) emerge not from local activity in circumscribed brain regions, but rather from widely distributed activity across the brain. While well-defined mathematical concepts like monotonicity can anchor attempts to co-observe properties of change in overt behavior, and underlying brain signals, we suggest that the search for such relationships will remain a challenge.