Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36481785›Full record

ReviewCommunications biology2022

Beyond noise to function: reframing the global brain activity and its dynamic topography.

Jianfeng Zhang, Georg Northoff

Erratum issuedAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Communications biology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 32 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
32citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

32 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Global Signal Removal (GSR) as graph spatial filtering.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Criticality and increased intrinsic neural timescales in stroke.NPJ systems biology and applications · 2025
    Article
  9. Brainwide blood volume reflects opposing neural populations.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
  10. Systemic physiological "noise" in fMRI has clinical relevance.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025
    Article
  11. Article
  12. Altered Patterns of Dynamic Functional Connectivity Underpin Reduced Expressions of Social-Emotional Reciprocity in Autistic Adults.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025
    Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Jianfeng Zhang *Center for Brain Disorders and Cognitive Sciences, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China. zhangjf111@gmail.com.ORCID 0000-0002-3591-3219
Georg Northoff *Mental Health Center, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China. georg.northoff@theroyal.ca.ORCID 0000-0002-5236-0951

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

How global and local activity interact with each other is a common question in complex systems like climate and economy. Analogously, the brain too displays 'global' activity that interacts with local-regional activity and modulates behavior. The brain's global activity, investigated as global signal in fMRI, so far, has mainly been conceived as non-neuronal noise. We here review the findings from healthy and clinical populations to demonstrate the neural basis and functions of global signal to brain and behavior. We show that global signal (i) is closely coupled with physiological signals and modulates the arousal level; and (ii) organizes an elaborated dynamic topography and coordinates the different forms of cognition. We also postulate a Dual-Layer Model including both background and surface layers. Together, the latest evidence strongly suggests the need to go beyond the view of global signal as noise by embracing a dual-layer model with background and surface layer.

Indexed as

BrainHealth Status

Identifiers

PMID36481785
PMCPMC9732046

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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.