A

A spatiotemporal complexity architecture of human brain activity

Science Advances, vol. 9, pp. eabq3851

Abstract

The human brain operates in large-scale functional networks. These networks are an expression of temporally correlated activity across brain regions, but how global network properties relate to the neural dynamics of individual regions remains incompletely understood. Here, we show that the brain's network architecture is tightly linked to critical episodes of neural regularity, visible as spontaneous "complexity drops" in functional magnetic resonance imaging signals. These episodes closely explain functional connectivity strength between regions, subserve the propagation of neural activity patterns, and reflect interindividual differences in age and behavior. Furthermore, complexity drops define neural activity states that dynamically shape the connectivity strength, topological configuration, and hierarchy of brain networks and comprehensively explain known structure-function relationships within the brain. These findings delineate a principled complexity architecture of neural activity-a human "complexome" that underpins the brain's functional network organization.

Authors 7

  1. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin · Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin

    Affiliation as printed

    Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of Neurology, Berlin, Germany

  2. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin · Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin

    Affiliation as printed

    Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of Neurology, Berlin, Germany

  3. University College London · Max Planck Institute for Human Development

    Affiliation as printed

    Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany

    Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Berlin, Germany

    Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.; Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Berlin, Germany

  4. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin · Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin

    Affiliation as printed

    Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of Neurology, Berlin, Germany

  5. RWTH Aachen University · Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin · Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

    Affiliation as printed

    Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

    Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7), Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

  6. University College London · Max Planck Institute for Human Development

    Affiliation as printed

    Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany

    Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Berlin, Germany

    Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.; Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Berlin, Germany

  7. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin · Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin

    Affiliation as printed

    Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Department of Neurology, Berlin, Germany

Cited by 67 stored of 67

No patents citing this paper on Lens.org (checked 2026-10-06).

References 95