Neurocognitive characterization of behaviour and mental illness through time-varying brain network analysis

Human cognitive processing involves dynamic interactions across brain regions, evolving over time. Traditional neuroimaging analysis often overlooks this temporal aspect, limiting insights into how functional network connectivity (FNC) supports ongoing cognition and behaviour. Using sliding window analysis, we captured FNC changes during tasks, reflecting network reconfiguration in cognitive processes. We further determined behavioural relevance of time-varying FNC by relating network measurements with task performances and psychopathology. We found that several whole-brain FNC patterns, or states, persist across resting and task-based fMRI, with state occurrences fluctuating with the most prominent task stimuli. Regional FNC distinguishes specific task conditions, and time-varying FNC explains more variance in psychopathology symptoms compared to static connectivity. These findings highlight that cognitive tasks reshape regional and whole-brain connectivity. By considering the different FNC states, time-varying connectivity provides a more comprehensive representation of brain interactions and thus may represent a better neural proxy for cognition and behaviour.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2026-02-03
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67398-w
Primary Topic
Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Neurocognitive characterization of behaviour and mental illness through time-varying brain network analysis

E. Artiges, Nick Ortiz, Jiyan Zou, Chao Xie et al.
Nature Communications
Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
article

Neurocognitive characterization of behaviour and mental illness through time-varying brain network analysis

E. Artiges, Nick Ortiz, Jiyan Zou, Chao Xie, Hugh P. Garavan, Rüdiger Brühl, Luise Poustka, Andreas Heinz, Sarah Hohmann, Zening Fu, Yunman Xia, Marie-Laure Paillère Martinot, Tianye Jia, Robert Whelan, Tobias Banaschewski, Michael N. Smolka, Miao Cao, Sylvane Desrivières, Henrik Walter, Dimitri Papadopoulos Orfanos, Vincent Frouin, Vince D. Calhoun, Jean-Luc Martinot, Penny Gowland, Jianfeng Feng, Gunter Schumann, Christian Baeuchl, Jie Zhang, Herta Flor, Arun L. W. Bokde, Nilakshi Vaidya, XIAO CHANG
article en

Abstract

Human cognitive processing involves dynamic interactions across brain regions, evolving over time. Traditional neuroimaging analysis often overlooks this temporal aspect, limiting insights into how functional network connectivity (FNC) supports ongoing cognition and behaviour. Using sliding window analysis, we captured FNC changes during tasks, reflecting network reconfiguration in cognitive processes. We further determined behavioural relevance of time-varying FNC by relating network measurements with task performances and psychopathology. We found that several whole-brain FNC patterns, or states, persist across resting and task-based fMRI, with state occurrences fluctuating with the most prominent task stimuli. Regional FNC distinguishes specific task conditions, and time-varying FNC explains more variance in psychopathology symptoms compared to static connectivity. These findings highlight that cognitive tasks reshape regional and whole-brain connectivity. By considering the different FNC states, time-varying connectivity provides a more comprehensive representation of brain interactions and thus may represent a better neural proxy for cognition and behaviour.

Nature CommunicationsVol. 17(1)
University of Vermont (US), Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (DE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Georgia Institute of Technology (US), University of Nottingham (GB), Emory University (US), Inserm (FR), Universität Hamburg (DE), University of Mannheim (DE), Georgia State University (US), King's College London (GB), Trinity College Dublin (IE), Heidelberg University (DE), University of Cambridge (GB), Fudan University (CN), Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR), Université Paris-Saclay (FR), University Hospital Heidelberg (DE), Shanghai Innovative Research Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine (CN), Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE), University of Warwick (GB), Sorbonne Université (FR), German Center for Pediatric and Adolescent Rheumatology (DE), Shanghai Institute for Science of Science (CN), Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (FR), Central Institute of Mental Health (DE), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (DE), Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital (FR), CEA Paris-Saclay (FR), Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science (US), Laboratoire de Biologie et Pharmacologie Appliquée (FR), Huashan Hospital (CN), Einstein Center for Neurosciences Berlin (DE), Shanghai Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Technology (CN), Technische Universität Dresden (DE), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (DE), University of Tübingen (DE), Tsinghua University (CN)
Fondation de l'Avenir pour la Recherche Médicale Appliquée, UK Research and Innovation, European Commission, Science Foundation Ireland, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale, Fondation de France, Université Paris Descartes, Fédération pour la Recherche sur le Cerveau, Higher Education Discipline Innovation Project, National Science and Technology Major Project, National Institutes of Health, HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme, Medical Research Council
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