{
  "abstract": "Cues of infection evoke disgust, attentional capture, withdrawal and shifts in social orientation, a set of responses attributed to the behavioral immune system. Responses this varied have to be coordinated, as the effects of inflammation are, so they should be visible in whole-cortex coupling. We predicted that infection-related images hold cortical dynamics in a narrower repertoire, reducing cortical edge metastability, the temporal variability of mean cofluctuation across parcel pairs. In two fMRI runs, 44 adults viewed alternating 18-s blocks of infection-related and neutral images; the primary test was specified before we looked at the data. That test gave Cohen's d = -0.31 (permutation p = .042), and 263 of 480 specifications were significant, all negative (joint p < .001). With global signal regression, the synchrony-based reduction survived removal of the stimulus-locked response, detrending, and motion, white-matter and cerebrospinal-fluid regression (d = -0.47), recurred in the second run (d = -0.44), and was smaller on strictly alternating blocks (d = -0.36). Without global signal regression, the pre-specified effect did not survive white-matter and cerebrospinal-fluid regression. Individual-difference predictions were not supported, and participants' contrasts did not replicate across runs. Infection-related images reduce the variability of residual global cofluctuation at the group level; whether this is specific to pathogen cues remains open.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Tohoku University"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "J. Choi"
    },
    {
      "name": "T. Berjaga-Buisan"
    },
    {
      "name": "E. Garcia-Guzman"
    },
    {
      "name": "M. Sugiura"
    },
    {
      "name": "G. Deco"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ahbxptc8dd65g.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.10.27.762178",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.27.762178v1.full",
  "id": "ahbxptc8dd65g",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.27.762178v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "neuroscience"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.27.762178v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-27",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ahbxptc8dd65g.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-02T00:21:22Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.10.27.762178",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.27.762178v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:neuroscience",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Infection-related images reduce cortical edge metastability: a specification-curve analysis of a block-design fMRI study",
  "title_text": "Infection-related images reduce cortical edge metastability: a specification-curve analysis of a block-design fMRI study",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-03T00:20:21Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ahbxptc8dd65g",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}