Metastability of resting-state bold fMRI as a reliable biomarker of individual brain dynamics: An interrogation of within-subject variability as a function of total acquisition time.

Overview

1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA
2. Department of Neurology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA
3. Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA
4. Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA
5. Developmental Cognition and Neuroimaging Lab, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA
6. Minnesota Supercomputing Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA
7. Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA

Abstract

Metastability of BOLD fMRI signals is a commonly used proxy of brain dynamics in behavioral and clinical studies. To date, little has been done to assess the confidence with which we can use estimates of metastability as reliable biomarkers of individual brain state. We analyze whole-brain and network-specific metastability for a highly sampled individual brain (84 sessions taken over 18 months) and quantify the within-subject reliability for the metrics as a function of the amount of data used, which we find to be comparable to that seen for static functional connectivity. As considerable variability is observed across networks in the required amount of data, we combine the networks’ metrics in one novel feature vector that exhibits an order of magnitude improvement in reliability. We then test reproducibility by analyzing the Midnight Scan Club dataset (10 subjects imaged over 10 consecutive days). Finally, we examine the susceptibility to change of the proposed metastability measure in another dataset examining brain dynamics under the effect of psilocybin. We conclude that the networks’ metastability feature vector exhibits strong within-subject reliability that renders it a promising candidate for the study of individual-specific biomarkers of brain dynamics and potential targets for precision neuromodulation.

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

Code

The paper says that its authors' code is available on request: it was not published with the paper, so there is nothing to verify.

The paper's code and data availability statement is in the Data section.

Tracing map

A tracing map links a paper to the code its authors published: this paper has none (its code is available on request), so it has no map.

Data

Datasets cited

• openneuro:ds000031 — at OpenNeuro; found in the text, “HSI dataset.”
• openneuro:ds000224 — at OpenNeuro; found in the text, “MSC dataset.”
• openneuro:ds006072 — at OpenNeuro; found in the text, “Psilocybin dataset.”

Data and Code Availability

Data used are available via open sources referenced in the text. The custom code used to perform the computations is available upon request from the corresponding author.

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

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 1, 29 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 8 authors, 6 keywords, 1 funder, 44 references.

Cite

This paper

Sheheitli, H., Hermosillo, R., Grimsrud, G., Madison, T., Dominguez, O. M., Nelson, S., Fair, D., & Nahas, Z. (2026). Metastability of resting-state bold fMRI as a reliable biomarker of individual brain dynamics: An interrogation of within-subject variability as a function of total acquisition time. Network neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.), 10(2), 281-302. https://doi.org/10.1162/netn.a.537

Similar papers

The papers with a page that share the most with this one: the tools found in their code, their categories, datasets, cited references and authors, the rarest counting most.

[1] doi:10.1162/imag.a.1254 [code]

The individuality of single-frame functional brain connectivity.

Journal: Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)

In common: OpenNeuro ds000224, fMRI, 6 references

[2] doi:10.1162/netn.a.570 [code]

Higher-order statistics for constructing centered edge functional connectivity.

Journal: Network neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)

In common: OpenNeuro ds000224, fMRI, 5 references

[3] doi:10.1093/psyrad/kkag013 [code]

Convergent and divergent spatial topographies of individualized brain functional networks and their developmental origins.

Journal: Psychoradiology

In common: OpenNeuro ds000224, fMRI, 4 references

[4] doi:10.1162/imag.a.1262 [code]

Frame-wise multi-echo distortion correction for superior functional MRI.

Journal: Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)

In common: fMRI, 3 references, author Damien A Fair

[5] doi:10.1002/alz.71547

Cortical synchrony is reduced in Alzheimer's disease and relates to arousal state.

Journal: Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association

In common: fMRI, other condition, 5 references

[6] doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2026.117830 [code]

Opposite network patterns of integration-segregation in psychedelic and sedated states of consciousness.

Journal: Cell reports

In common: OpenNeuro ds006072, fMRI, 1 reference

[7] doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2026.04.011 [code]

Precision fMRI reveals densely interdigitated network patches with conserved motifs in the lateral prefrontal cortex.

Journal: Neuron

In common: fMRI, 6 references

[8] doi:10.1162/imag.a.1285 [code]

Individualized mapping of functional brain networks in older adulthood.

Journal: Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)

In common: fMRI, 5 references

[9] doi:10.1162/imag.a.1278 [code]

Young and old adult brains experience opposite effects of acute sleep restriction on the functional connectivity network.

Journal: Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)

In common: fMRI, 4 references

[10] doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-9326213/v1 [code]

Multi-task fMRI outperforms resting-state fMRI for revealing task-invariant organization of the human brain

Journal: Research Square (preprint)

In common: fMRI, 5 references

Contribute

The authors of this paper can claim it, correct its record and validate its tracing map, and the maintainers of its code (its owner, or a public member of its organization) correct what it says of their repository; anyone signed in can ask for its removal. Every request goes to OSCR's own machine, which answers it; your account page follows them.

Request its removal

To ask OSCR to remove this record, the copies of its authors' scripts or its tracing map, use the removal request page: signed in, you say who you are, what to remove and why, then review and confirm the request. Published rules decide every request (how).

Discussion: questions and error reports about this paper and its code, from signed-in readers and its authors. It opens with sign-in.

Reproductions: reports from readers who ran the authors' code: what they reproduced, with which environment, commit and data. It opens with sign-in.

Activity: what happens around this paper: new versions of its record, its map's validation, discussions and reproductions. It opens with sign-in.