Spatiotemporal transition of resting-state brain networks associates with human cognitive abilities

The brain is a dynamic system that continuously switches between different states. This brain state transition has significant functional consequences on human cognition, but its dynamic mechanism is rarely understood. Here, we quantified the state transition by measuring the spatiotemporal reconfiguration of modular structure spanning time and space in the resting-brain functional networks. By integrating multimodal data, noise-driven large-scale dynamic model and meta-analysis, we found the significant relationship between state transition and brain evolution indicated by human accelerated regions (HARs) genes. This state transition was associated with diverse cognitive abilities, especially better executive control ability in the default mode network and control network. The resting-state brain showed a moderate degree of state transition at the whole-brain scale, but the regional heterogeneity of the transition was the highest, which functionally, was associated with the dynamic balance between segregation and integration, and structurally, was supported by hierarchical modules in brain structural connectivity. In addition, the high state transition among regions was supported by serotonin 1 A (5-HT_1A) and dopamine (D₂) receptors. Our findings highlight the critical role of brain state transition in cognitive abilities and reveal the underlying dynamic mechanisms, offering new insights into the functional principles of the resting brain.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11571-025-10347-6.