Resting-state BOLD signal variability is associated with individual differences in metacontrol

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Brain Imaging

Background:

• Moment-to-moment neural variability is linked to cognitive flexibility.
• Its role in cognitive persistence is not well understood.
• Comparisons of different neural variability measures are lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between resting-state brain signal variability and metacontrol policies (persistence vs. flexibility).
• To compare two methods for estimating brain variability: Standard Deviation (SD) and Mean Square Successive Difference (MSSD).

Main Methods:

• Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) data were analyzed.
• Brain variability was quantified using SD and MSSD.
• Metacontrol biases were assessed using three tasks sensitive to metacontrol.

Main Results:

• SD and MSSD measures of brain variability were highly positively correlated.
• Higher variability in specific brain networks (attention, parietal, frontal, ACC, motor) correlated with reduced cognitive persistence.
• Increased variability was associated with greater cognitive flexibility, indicated by larger Stroop effects and worse RAT performance.

Conclusions:

• The impact of neural signal variability on cognitive control is state-dependent, varying with metacontrol demands.
• Temporal variability in resting-state fMRI activity is crucial for understanding the neural basis of cognitive control.
• Findings suggest that while variability aids flexibility, it may impede persistence.