Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Whole-brain dynamics unfold as fast, discrete, transient events known as neuronal avalanches, whose propagation is constrained by the connectome, that is, the large-scale scaffolding of structural connections wiring the brain. However, the role of the connectome in determining the topographies of the start and end of these transient cascades remains unclear. Leveraging resting-state Magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings and diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) tractography across 42 healthy individuals, we examined whether the structural architecture of white matter tracts dictates the spatial origins and the end of cortical avalanches. We found that the probability of triggering and finishing an avalanche is strongly related to the structural nodal strength, showing a positive correlation that is highly robust to non-parametric spatial permutation testing and bootstrapping. This structure-function coupling is highly stable and robust across different activation thresholds, demonstrating that the choice of avalanche extraction threshold does not drive or alter our main findings. Collectively, our results suggest that structural properties determine a region’s propensity to initiate and terminate neuronal avalanches.
Institutions: Parthenope University of Naples, Pegaso University, University of Salerno, IRCCS Eugenio Medea, Inserm, Aix-Marseille Université, Institut de Neurosciences des Systèmes, Institute of Biostructure and Bioimaging, National Research Council, Institute of Applied Science and Intelligent Systems
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7222886979