Default Mode Network Hypoalignment of Function to Structure Correlates with Depression and Rumination

Abstract

ABSTRACTRecent studies have begun to examine the extent to which signals in the brain correspond to the underlying white matter structure by using tools from the field of graph signal processing to quantify brain function ‘alignment’ to brain network topology. Here, we apply this framework for the first time towards a transdiagnostic cohort of internalizing psychopathologies, including mood and anxiety disorders, to uncover how such alignment within the default mode network (DMN) is related to depression and rumination symptoms. We found that signal alignment within the posterior DMN is greater in IP patients than healthy controls and is anticorrelated with baseline depression and rumination scales. Signal alignment within the posterior DMN was also found to correlate with the ratio of total within-DMN to extra-DMN functional connectivity for these regions. These findings are consistent with previous literature regarding pathologic promiscuity of posterior DMN connectivity and provide the first GSP-based analyses in a transdiagnostic IP cohort.