ArticleNeuroImage2019
Sex differences in network controllability as a predictor of executive function in youth.
Article in NeuroImage, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 papers.
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Who cites it
44 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled pilot clinical trial with gamma-band transcranial alternating current stimulation for the treatment of schizophrenia refractory auditory hallucinations.Translational psychiatry · 2025Trial
- Mindful attention promotes control of brain network dynamics for self-regulation and discontinues the past from the present.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Trial
- Trial
- Longitudinal changes in control energy of brain networks in older adults at familial risk for Alzheimer's disease.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Habit learning is associated with efficiently controlled network dynamics in naive macaque monkeys.Npj complexity · 2026Article
- Network control energy reductions under DMT relate to serotonin receptors, signal diversity, and subjective experience.Communications biology · 2025Article
- The Neural Association Between Symptom and Cognition in Major Depressive Disorder: A Network Control Theory Study.Human brain mapping · 2025Article
- Sex-specific differences in brain activity dynamics of youth with a family history of substance use disorder.Nature. Mental health · 2025Article
- Sustained attention and inhibitory control: age and sex related difference in children and adolescents using a CPT with distracting events.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- A network control theory pipeline for studying the dynamics of the structural connectome.Nature protocols · 2024Article
- Altered Structural Connectivity and Functional Brain Dynamics in Individuals With Heavy Alcohol Use Elucidated via Network Control Theory.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2024Article
- Frontoparietal Response to Working Memory Load Mediates the Association between Sleep Duration and Cognitive Function in Children.Brain sciences · 2024Article
- Age-related differences in network controllability are mitigated by redundancy in large-scale brain networks.Communications biology · 2024Article
- From Connectivity to Controllability: Unraveling the Brain Biomarkers of Major Depressive Disorder.Brain sciences · 2024Article
- Controlling target brain regions by optimal selection of input nodes.PLoS computational biology · 2024Article
- Using network control theory to study the dynamics of the structural connectome.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Computational modelling in disorders of consciousness: Closing the gap towards personalised models for restoring consciousness.NeuroImage · 2023Article
- Dynamic network properties of the superior temporal gyrus mediate the impact of brain age gap on chronic aphasia severity.Communications biology · 2023Article
- Network controllability analysis of awake and asleep conditions in the brain.Journal of Zhejiang University. Science. B · 2023Article
- Reduced emergent character of neural dynamics in patients with a disrupted connectome.NeuroImage · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
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.
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Registered trials
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.