Infection-related images reduce cortical edge metastability: a specification-curve analysis of a block-design fMRI study
- 1Tohoku University
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.
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BibTeX
@misc{choi2026infectionrelated,
title = {{Infection-related images reduce cortical edge metastability: a specification-curve analysis of a block-design fMRI study}},
author = {J. Choi and T. Berjaga-Buisan and E. Garcia-Guzman and M. Sugiura and G. Deco},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.27.762178},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.27.762178v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Infection-related images reduce cortical edge metastability: a specification-curve analysis of a block-design fMRI study
AU - J. Choi
AU - T. Berjaga-Buisan
AU - E. Garcia-Guzman
AU - M. Sugiura
AU - G. Deco
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/27
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.27.762178
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.27.762178v1
AB - 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.
ER -