Spatiotemporal Complexity in the Psychotic Brain

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychiatry
• Complexity Science

Background:

• Psychotic disorders present diagnostic challenges.
• Resting-state fMRI spatiotemporal complexity aids in identifying brain activity irregularities.
• Traditional correlation analyses have limitations in capturing global brain connectivity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore higher-order interactions and multiscale intrinsic connectivity networks (ICNs) in the psychotic brain.
• To investigate disruptions in brain network connectivity using information-theoretic metrics.
• To assess the integration and segregation of topological information in psychosis.

Main Methods:

• Utilized information-theoretic metrics to analyze global brain connectivity.
• Estimated brain network connectivity using redundancy and synergy measures.
• Explored higher-order topological functional connectivity in resting-state fMRI data.

Main Results:

• The psychotic brain exhibits spatial and temporal randomness.
• A disruption in the balance of redundant and synergistic information, termed 'brainquake,' was observed.
• Profound disruptions in brain information integration were identified across cortical and subcortical ICNs.

Conclusions:

• Psychosis significantly alters brain complexity and organizational states.
• Aberrant information interactions impact sensorimotor, visual, temporal, default mode, and fronto-parietal networks.
• The findings highlight severe impacts on critical brain networks in psychotic states.