Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Flexible behaviour depends on the continuous coordination of sensory-driven and internally guided processing, yet whether the cortical hierarchy spanning lower-order sensory to higher-order association systems dynamically organizes large-scale cortical propagation over time remains unclear. Here we combined source-resolved magnetoencephalography with Riemannian cortical-flow modelling to derive hierarchy consistency, a moment-to-moment measure of the alignment between cortical propagation and the principal sensory-to-association functional gradient. We found that large-scale cortical propagation was dynamically organized by the cortical hierarchy. Hierarchy consistency exhibited a reproducible low-frequency periodic component that defined a characteristic timescale for the continuous updating of propagation direction. This dynamic organization was coordinated by a distributed cortical switchboard spanning the default-mode, salience, control and limbic systems, and was constrained by structural connectivity and network-control architecture. It flexibly adapted to behavioural demands, with hierarchy consistency increasing across both sensorimotor and working-memory states, while its characteristic periodicity shifted in a task-dependent manner. Moreover, hierarchy-related propagation dynamics were systematically reorganized across ageing and associated with higher-order cognitive function. Together, these findings establish the cortical hierarchy as a dynamic organizing principle that continuously shapes the direction and temporal evolution of large-scale cortical propagation to support adaptive behaviour.
Institutions: Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill University, University of Geneva, University Hospital of Geneva, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Peking University, Peking University Sixth Hospital, Yale University, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: China Scholarship Council
OpenAlex ID: W7207754959