ArticleNeuroImage2018
Warnings and caveats in brain controllability.
Article in NeuroImage, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers.
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Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed, 84 citations in OpenAlex.
- Hierarchical whole-brain modeling of critical synchronization dynamics in the human brain.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Control of cortical population activity with patterned microstimulation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Exploring the Role of the Rich Club in Network Control of Neurocognitive States.Human brain mapping · 2026Article
- A complex network perspective on brain disease.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026Review
- Structural and dynamic functional controllability: shared variance between network control metrics limits attribution to distinct domains of intelligence.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Article
- Inferring intrinsic neural timescales using optimal control theory.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Task-Related Controllability of Functional Connectome During a Working Memory Task in Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and Major Depressive Disorder.Research (Washington, D.C.) · 2025Article
- Low-dimensional controllability of brain networks.PLoS computational biology · 2025Article
- EEG microstate transition cost correlates with task demands.PLoS computational biology · 2024Article
- Beyond the usual suspects: multi-factorial computational models in the search for neurodegenerative disease mechanisms.Translational psychiatry · 2024Review
- Linked patterns of symptoms and cognitive covariation with functional brain controllability in major depressive disorder.EBioMedicine · 2024Article
- Age-related differences in network controllability are mitigated by redundancy in large-scale brain networks.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Development of the brain network control theory and its implications.Psychoradiology · 2024Review
- Controlling target brain regions by optimal selection of input nodes.PLoS computational biology · 2024Article
- Article
- Computational modelling in disorders of consciousness: Closing the gap towards personalised models for restoring consciousness.NeuroImage · 2023Article
- Reduced emergent character of neural dynamics in patients with a disrupted connectome.NeuroImage · 2023Article
- Targeted neuroplasticity in spatiotemporally patterned invasive neuromodulation therapies for improving clinical outcomes.Frontiers in neuroinformatics · 2023Article
- The impact of aging on human brain network target controllability.Brain structure & function · 2022Article
- Developmental maturation of causal signaling hubs in voluntary control of saccades and their functional controllability.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
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Abstract
A recent article by Gu et al. (Nat. Commun. 6, 2015) proposed to characterize brain networks, quantified using anatomical diffusion imaging, in terms of their "controllability", drawing on concepts and methods of control theory. They reported that brain activity is controllable from a single node, and that the topology of brain networks provides an explanation for the types of control roles that different regions play in the brain. In this work, we first briefly review the framework of control theory applied to complex networks. We then show contrasting results on brain controllability through the analysis of five different datasets and numerical simulations. We find that brain networks are not controllable (in a statistical significant way) by one single region. Additionally, we show that random null models, with no biological resemblance to brain network architecture, produce the same type of relationship observed by Gu et al. between the average/modal controllability and weighted degree. Finally, we find that resting state networks defined with fMRI cannot be attributed specific control roles. In summary, our study highlights some warning and caveats in the brain controllability framework.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.