The Brain Dynamical Repertoire and the Evolution of Clinical Symptoms
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.
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BibTeX
@misc{depannemaecker2026brain,
title = {{The Brain Dynamical Repertoire and the Evolution of Clinical Symptoms}},
author = {Damien Depannemaecker and Florencia Altschuler and Hélène Soydemir and Gabriele Casagrande and Cecilia Gonzalez Campo and Pierpaolo Sorrentino and Antoine Lefrère and Christophe Gauld and VIktor Jirsa},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/4738x_v1},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/4738x_v1/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The Brain Dynamical Repertoire and the Evolution of Clinical Symptoms
AU - Damien Depannemaecker
AU - Florencia Altschuler
AU - Hélène Soydemir
AU - Gabriele Casagrande
AU - Cecilia Gonzalez Campo
AU - Pierpaolo Sorrentino
AU - Antoine Lefrère
AU - Christophe Gauld
AU - VIktor Jirsa
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/10
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/4738x_v1
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/4738x_v1/
AB - 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.
ER -