The Brain Dynamical Repertoire and the Evolution of Clinical Symptoms
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: The brain continuously reconfigures through a repertoire of transient states and transitions. However, most studies on neuropsychiatric disorders still relate symptoms to static or time-averaged measures of brain organization. Here, we review emerging evidence that clinically relevant information is also contained in the brain dynamical repertoire, including the states accessible to an individual, their occupancy, persistence, and transition structure. Across psychiatric, neurodevelopmental, neurological, and neurodegenerative disorders, alterations in these dynamical features have been associated with symptom severity, cognitive impairment, functional outcome, and treatment response. Importantly, emerging longitudinal studies further suggest that brain dynamics can change with clinical state and, in some cases, provide information about subsequent symptom trajectories. We argue that these findings motivate a shift from viewing brain dynamics primarily as cross-sectional correlates of diagnostic categories toward examining how changes in an individual's dynamical repertoire relate to the evolution of symptoms over time.
Source: PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints)
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7212295203