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Diurnal Variations and Test-Retest Reliability of Resting-State Functional MRI Metrics.

Overview

Authors: Bowen Guo1,2, Kaikai Yan2, Zhihui Liu2, Yao Deng3, Shanna Fu2, Weiwei Zhao2, Jing Xu2, Caihong Jiang2, Ruiwen Tao4, Xing Chen2, Mengmeng Wang5, Tianxin Mao2, Hengyi Rao2,6,7
ORCID iDs: Bowen Guo, Weiwei Zhao, Tianxin Mao, Hengyi Rao
  1. Department of Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Science and Technology of China Hefei China
  2. Center for Magnetic Resonance Imaging Research & Key Laboratory of Brain‐Machine Intelligence for Information Behavior (Ministry of Education and Shanghai), School of Business and Management Shanghai International Studies University Shanghai China
  3. State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research Beijing Normal University Beijing China
  4. Department of Psychology Zhejiang Sci‐Tech University Hangzhou China
  5. Business School, NingboTech University Ningbo China
  6. Center for Functional Neuroimaging, Department of Neurology University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia Pennsylvania USA
  7. Unit for Experimental Psychiatry, Division of Sleep and Chronobiology, Department of Psychiatry University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia Pennsylvania USA
Institutions: Shanghai International Studies University (China); University of Science and Technology of China (China); Beijing Normal University (China); State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning; Zhejiang Sci-Tech University (China); Zhejiang University of Science and Technology (China); NingboTech University (China); University of Pennsylvania (United States)
Journal: Human brain mapping, volume 47, issue 10, article e70590
Dates: received 11 September 2025; accepted 16 June 2026; published online 7 July 2026; in print July 2026
Type: Research article · Language: English
License: CC BY
Identifiers: DOI 10.1002/hbm.70590 · PMID 42415272 · PMCID PMC13341652 · OpenAlex W7167679580
Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Status: code on request
Categories: fMRI (modality), human (organism), methods / tools (subfield)
Methods: Spectral & time-frequency, Connectivity, Statistics, Preprocessing, fMRI & imaging, Single-unit activity, calcium imaging, Physiology & signal measures
Keywords: diurnal variation, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), resting‐state fMRI, test–retest reliability, time‐of‐day
MeSH: Brain*, Circadian Rhythm*, Magnetic Resonance Imaging*, Adult, Brain Mapping, Female, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Male, Reproducibility of Results, Rest, Young Adult (* major topic)
Topic: Functional Brain Connectivity Studies (Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuroscience), according to OpenAlex
Funding: Brain Science and Brain-like Intelligence Technology - National Science and Technology Major Project (2021ZD0200500); National Natural Science Foundation of China (32441108, 32200889); Shanghai International Studies University Research Projects (2021114002); Open Research Fund of the State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Science and Mental Health; Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (LQN25G020003); Major Humanities and Social Research Projects in Zhejiang higher education institutions (2024QN071)
Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 108 references in the paper

Abstract

Resting‐state fMRI (rs‐fMRI) is widely used to assess intrinsic brain activity, yet concerns about its test–retest reliability and reproducibility persist. Circadian rhythms strongly influence brain physiology, but their impact on rs‐fMRI reliability remains poorly understood. In this study, we scanned 39 healthy young adults six times within a single day (08:00–20:00) under standardized conditions. For each session, we computed four common rs‐fMRI metrics, including amplitude of low‐frequency fluctuations (ALFF), wavelet‐transformed ALFF (wALFF), fractional ALFF (fALFF), and regional homogeneity (ReHo), and assessed reliability using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). ReHo showed relatively higher and more stable reliability across sessions, whereas amplitude‐based metrics, particularly fALFF, exhibited greater diurnal variation. Both network‐level and region‐specific analyses revealed low reliability in the limbic and subcortical structures, with a mid‐morning dip at 10:00. Moreover, ICCs for ALFF, wALFF, and fALFF declined with increasing inter‐scan intervals, whereas ReHo remained robust. These findings demonstrate diurnal fluctuations in rs‐fMRI reliability, with different metrics exhibiting distinct temporal stability profiles. We recommend that scan timing and circadian influences should be explicitly considered in the design, analysis, and interpretation of future rs‐fMRI studies.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

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Data

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Data Availability Statement

The data and code used in the present study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

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Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 13 authors, 5 keywords, 12 MeSH terms, 6 funders, 105 references.

Cite

This paper

Guo, B., Yan, K., Liu, Z., Deng, Y., Fu, S., Zhao, W., Xu, J., Jiang, C., Tao, R., Chen, X., Wang, M., Mao, T., & Rao, H. (2026). Diurnal Variations and Test-Retest Reliability of Resting-State Functional MRI Metrics. Human brain mapping, 47(10), e70590. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.70590

BibTeX

@article{guo2026diurnal,
author = {Guo, Bowen and Yan, Kaikai and Liu, Zhihui and Deng, Yao and Fu, Shanna and Zhao, Weiwei and Xu, Jing and Jiang, Caihong and Tao, Ruiwen and Chen, Xing and Wang, Mengmeng and Mao, Tianxin and Rao, Hengyi},
title = {{Diurnal Variations and Test-Retest Reliability of Resting-State Functional MRI Metrics}},
journal = {Human brain mapping},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
volume = {47},
number = {10},
pages = {e70590},
publisher = {Wiley},
issn = {1065-9471},
doi = {10.1002/hbm.70590},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.70590},
pmid = {42415272},
pmcid = {PMC13341652}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - Guo, Bowen
AU - Yan, Kaikai
AU - Liu, Zhihui
AU - Deng, Yao
AU - Fu, Shanna
AU - Zhao, Weiwei
AU - Xu, Jing
AU - Jiang, Caihong
AU - Tao, Ruiwen
AU - Chen, Xing
AU - Wang, Mengmeng
AU - Mao, Tianxin
AU - Rao, Hengyi
TI - Diurnal Variations and Test-Retest Reliability of Resting-State Functional MRI Metrics
T2 - Human brain mapping
J2 - Hum Brain Mapp
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/01
VL - 47
IS - 10
SP - e70590
SN - 1065-9471
PB - Wiley
DO - 10.1002/hbm.70590
UR - https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.70590
LA - en
ER -

CSL-JSON

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