The Effect of Body Posture on Resting-State Functional Connectivity

An important but under-investigated confound of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is body posture. Although it is well established that body position changes cerebral blood flow, the amount of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain, intracranial pressure, and even the firing rate of certain cell types, there is currently no study that directly examines its effect on fMRI measurements. Moreover, fMRI is typically done in a supine position, which often does not correspond to how these processes are performed in everyday settings. In this study, 20 healthy adults underwent resting-state fMRI under three body positions: supine, right lateral decubitus (RLD), and left lateral decubitus (LLD). We first investigated whether there were differences in overall organization of whole-brain connectivity between conditions using graph theory. Second, we examined whether functional connectivity of two most studied default mode network (DMN) seeds to the rest of the brain was altered as a function of body position. Nonparametric statistical analyses revealed that global network measures differed among conditions, with the supine and LLD showing identical results which differed when compared to the RLD. There was decreased connectivity for DMN seeds in the RLD condition compared to the supine and LLD, but there were no significant differences between the latter two conditions. Potential mechanisms underlying these alterations include gravity, changes in physiology, and body anatomy. Our results suggest that, compared to supine and LLD, the RLD position leads to changes in whole-brain and DMN connectivity. Finally, depending on the research question, combining imaging modalities that allow for more naturalistic settings provides a better understanding of certain phenomena. Impact statement Functional connectivity is sensitive to several confounds, including motion, heart rate, and respiration. Body posture is also an important but under-investigated confound. In this study, healthy adults were scanned in three different positions to investigate whether posture results in changes in connectivity. We found that connectivity was identical if participants were facing up or lying on their left, but it was altered when they were lying on their right. Results suggest that posture can lead to connectivity changes and, in some cases, the combined use of functional magnetic resonance imaging with other techniques might provide a better understanding of the phenomenon of interest.