Competition in the brain: a conserved principle with lifespan consequences

Whole-brain models have long assumed purely cooperative brain connectivity, but Luppi et al. demonstrate that competitive couplings are a conserved feature of the mammalian connectome, markedly improving model accuracy across humans, macaques, and mice. This Comment examines the lifespan implications — from adolescent maturation of long-range competitive connections to their erosion in aging and neurodegeneration — and the framework’s translational potential for personalised brain models and clinical biomarkers.