Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35146831›Full record

ArticleHuman brain mapping2022

Avalanche criticality in individuals, fluid intelligence, and working memory.

Longzhou Xu, Jianfeng Feng, Lianchun Yu

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Human brain mapping, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
18citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
3.3field-weighted citation impact, top 7% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Critical Dynamics in the Association Cortex Predict Higher Intelligence in Typically Developing Children.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Genetic contributions to brain criticality and its relationship with human cognitive functions.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Longzhou XuSchool of Physical Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.ORCID 0000-0002-4404-1336
Jianfeng FengInstitute of Science and Technology for Brain Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Lianchun YuSchool of Physical Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China.
Fudan University · CNLanzhou University · CNQinghai Normal University · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The critical brain hypothesis suggests that efficient neural computation can be achieved through critical brain dynamics. However, the relationship between human cognitive performance and scale-free brain dynamics remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the whole-brain avalanche activity and its individual variability in the human resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. We showed that though the group-level analysis was inaccurate because of individual variability, the subject wise scale-free avalanche activity was significantly associated with maximal synchronization entropy of their brain activity. Meanwhile, the complexity of functional connectivity, as well as structure-function coupling, is maximized in subjects with maximal synchronization entropy. We also observed order-disorder phase transitions in resting-state brain dynamics and found that there were longer times spent in the subcritical regime. These results imply that large-scale brain dynamics favor the slightly subcritical regime of phase transition. Finally, we showed evidence that the neural dynamics of human participants with higher fluid intelligence and working memory scores are closer to criticality. We identified brain regions whose critical dynamics showed significant positive correlations with fluid intelligence performance and found that these regions were located in the prefrontal cortex and inferior parietal cortex, which were believed to be important nodes of brain networks underlying human intelligence. Our results reveal the possible role that avalanche criticality plays in cognitive performance and provide a simple method to identify the critical point and map cortical states on a spectrum of neural dynamics, ranging from subcriticality to supercriticality.

Indexed as

AvalanchesMemory, Short-TermBrainBrain MappingHumansIntelligenceMagnetic Resonance Imagingavalanche criticalityfluid intelligencelarge-scale brain networkphase transitionresting-state fMRIworking memory

Identifiers

PMID35146831
PMCPMC9057106
OpenAlexW4225263276

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.