Sex differences in network controllability as a predictor of executive function in youth
Sex differences in network controllability as a predictor of executive function in youth
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DOI：
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.11.048
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发表时间：
2019-03-01
期刊：
影响因子：
5.7
通讯作者：
Bassett, Danielle S.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cornblath, Eli J.;Tang, Evelyn;Bassett, Danielle S.
执行功能是一种典型的人类能力，在发展后期出现，并在男性和女性中表现出不同的发展趋势。青年执行功能的性别差异与精神病理学的脆弱性以及影响健康，幸福和长寿的行为有关。然而，这些差异的神经生物学基础还没有得到很好的理解，部分原因是支持执行功能的大脑网络成熟模式中固有的时空复杂性。在这里，我们测试的假设，在冲动的青年性别差异源于性别差异的可控性结构的大脑网络，因为他们重新布线的发展。从网络神经科学和网络控制理论相结合的方法，我们的特点的结构脑网络的网络控制特性估计从扩散成像数据获得的男性和女性的样本中的879名8-22岁的青年。我们通过估计平均可控性和模态可控性来总结这些网络的控制特性，这两个统计数据可以探测大脑区域驱动网络走向容易与难以到达状态的难易程度。我们发现，女性在额叶，顶叶和皮层下区域有较高的模态可控性，而男性在额叶和皮层下区域有较高的平均可控性。此外，男性的可控性配置文件是负相关的假阳性率在一个连续的性能任务，冲动的一个共同的措施。最后，我们发现平均可控性和个体差异之间的关联在一个n-back工作记忆任务的激活。总的来说，我们的研究结果支持了这样一种观点，即结构脑网络可控性的性别差异可以部分解释执行功能的性别差异。结构性脑网络的可控性也预测了任务相关激活的特征，这表明可控性更普遍地代表了网络状态的上下文特定约束的潜力。
Executive function is a quintessential human capacity that emerges late in development and displays different developmental trends in males and females. Sex differences in executive function in youth have been linked to vulnerability to psychopathology as well as to behaviors that impinge on health, wellbeing, and longevity. Yet, the neurobiological basis of these differences is not well understood, in part due to the spatiotemporal complexity inherent in patterns of brain network maturation supporting executive function. Here we test the hypothesis that sex differences in impulsivity in youth stem from sex differences in the controllability of structural brain networks as they rewire over development. Combining methods from network neuroscience and network control theory, we characterize the network control properties of structural brain networks estimated from diffusion imaging data acquired in males and females in a sample of 879 youth aged 8-22 years. We summarize the control properties of these networks by estimating average and modal controllability, two statistics that probe the ease with which brain areas can drive the network towards easy versus difficult-to-reach states. We find that females have higher modal controllability in frontal, parietal, and subcortical regions while males have higher average controllability in frontal and subcortical regions. Furthermore, controllability profiles in males are negatively related to the false positive rate on a continuous performance task, a common measure of impulsivity. Finally, we find associations between average controllability and individual differences in activation during an n-back working memory task. Taken together, our findings support the notion that sex differences in the controllability of structural brain networks can partially explain sex differences in executive function. Controllability of structural brain networks also predicts features of task-relevant activation, suggesting the potential for controllability to represent context-specific constraints on network state more generally.