Heterogeneity of Brain Dynamics in Genetic and Psychiatric Conditions
- 1University of Montreal
Abstract
Whether the heterogeneity of psychiatric conditions converges on shared neurophysiological alterations or translates into distinct signatures remains unclear. We assembled high-density electroencephalogram (hd-EEG) resting-state recordings from 4,812 individuals aged 5 months to 66 years across 11 psychiatric conditions, a broad spectrum of rare genetic variants, and typically developing (TD) individuals. We established normative developmental trajectories of source-space EEG across spectral organization, connectivity, and signal complexity. Psychiatric conditions showed small deviations, revealing a shared transdiagnostic profile. In contrast, single rare variants showed substantially larger, distinct and sometimes mirror-opposite signatures that collapsed toward the psychiatric profile when pooled. Autism Spectrum Disorder showed some of the smallest group-level effects yet the largest individual deviations, indicating substantial but directionally inconsistent alterations. EEG deviations followed a cortical gradient, with larger effects in sensorimotor regions. We demonstrate that sample sizes in the hundreds are required for robust associations with psychiatric diagnoses. This interactive open resource provides normative scores to benchmark future results.
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BibTeX
@misc{dubois2026heterogeneity,
title = {{Heterogeneity of Brain Dynamics in Genetic and Psychiatric Conditions}},
author = {A. E. E. Dubois and S. Lippe and C.-O. Martin and I. S. Knoth and V. K. Fontaine and A.-M. belanger and P. Abadie and M. T. Carter and M. Couture and M. Elsabbagh and A. Evans and C. Ernst and B. Forgeot d'Arc and R. Joober and G. Rouleau and J. Scorah and C. L. Tardif and M. H. Zawati and G. C. Westerkamp and E. Pedapati and C. Erickson and B. Rodriguez-Herreros and N. Chabane and K. Latreche and M. Schaer and A. Lefebvre and R. Delorme and S. J. Webb and J. McPartland and S. Jacquemont and G. Dumas},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.01.748394},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.01.748394v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Heterogeneity of Brain Dynamics in Genetic and Psychiatric Conditions
AU - A. E. E. Dubois
AU - S. Lippe
AU - C.-O. Martin
AU - I. S. Knoth
AU - V. K. Fontaine
AU - A.-M. belanger
AU - P. Abadie
AU - M. T. Carter
AU - M. Couture
AU - M. Elsabbagh
AU - A. Evans
AU - C. Ernst
AU - B. Forgeot d'Arc
AU - R. Joober
AU - G. Rouleau
AU - J. Scorah
AU - C. L. Tardif
AU - M. H. Zawati
AU - G. C. Westerkamp
AU - E. Pedapati
AU - C. Erickson
AU - B. Rodriguez-Herreros
AU - N. Chabane
AU - K. Latreche
AU - M. Schaer
AU - A. Lefebvre
AU - R. Delorme
AU - S. J. Webb
AU - J. McPartland
AU - S. Jacquemont
AU - G. Dumas
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.01.748394
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.01.748394v1
AB - Whether the heterogeneity of psychiatric conditions converges on shared neurophysiological alterations or translates into distinct signatures remains unclear. We assembled high-density electroencephalogram (hd-EEG) resting-state recordings from 4,812 individuals aged 5 months to 66 years across 11 psychiatric conditions, a broad spectrum of rare genetic variants, and typically developing (TD) individuals. We established normative developmental trajectories of source-space EEG across spectral organization, connectivity, and signal complexity. Psychiatric conditions showed small deviations, revealing a shared transdiagnostic profile. In contrast, single rare variants showed substantially larger, distinct and sometimes mirror-opposite signatures that collapsed toward the psychiatric profile when pooled. Autism Spectrum Disorder showed some of the smallest group-level effects yet the largest individual deviations, indicating substantial but directionally inconsistent alterations. EEG deviations followed a cortical gradient, with larger effects in sensorimotor regions. We demonstrate that sample sizes in the hundreds are required for robust associations with psychiatric diagnoses. This interactive open resource provides normative scores to benchmark future results.
ER -