Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41497618›Full record

ArticlebioRxiv : the preprint server for biology2025

Topological data analysis reveals rigid brain-state dynamics during self-viewing in trait rumination.

Caleb Geniesse, Sahar Jahanikia, Hua Xie, Neeraj S Sonalkar, Leanne M Williams, Manish Saggar

Abstract readPreprint
In one paragraph

Article in bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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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

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

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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

6 authors.

Caleb GeniesseBiophysics Program, Stanford University, USA.
Sahar JahanikiaDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, USA.
Hua XieDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, USA.
Neeraj S SonalkarCenter for Design Research, Stanford University, USA.
Leanne M WilliamsDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-9987-7360
Manish SaggarDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-5307-2249

Funding

Only time will tell: a computational psychiatry approach to model temporal transitions in brain activity as a lens towards developing better diagnostic nosology for psychiatric illnessDP2MH119735 · NIMH · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · PI SAGGAR, MANISH · 2018 to 2018
$2.4M
NIMH NIH HHS DP2 MH119735
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Rumination-repetitive, negatively valenced, self-focused thought-is a maladaptive cognitive style linked to emotional dysregulation and psychiatric risk. To investigate its neural underpinnings in a naturalistic context, we developed an fMRI paradigm in which participants observed and reflected on videos of their own past group-based problem-solving sessions, a naturalistic self-relevant context rarely examined in fMRI studies. Thirty-two adults (mean age = 30.4 ± 5.4 years; 13 F) were recorded during collaborative design-thinking tasks in triads. In a subsequent scanning session, each participant viewed two self-relevant team videos and one control team video, followed by a structured reflection period. We assessed trait rumination using the Rumination-Reflection Questionnaire (RRQ) and applied Topological Data Analysis (TDA) via the Mapper algorithm to model individual-level whole-brain dynamics during the task. Mapper shape graphs captured temporal transitions between brain states, allowing us to quantify the similarity of timepoints across the session. Individuals with higher trait rumination showed significantly higher temporal similarity, indicating reduced brain-state variability, during self-relevant conditions (r = 0.46, p = 0.018). This effect was not observed during the control condition. These findings suggest that rumination is associated with rigid brain dynamics during self-observation and evaluative processing. Traditional GLM and inter-subject correlation (ISC) analyses confirmed task engagement of key self-referential and social-evaluative regions, while Mapper revealed dynamic features not captured by static or group-averaged methods. Together, these findings demonstrate that trait rumination is associated with rigid large-scale brain dynamics during self-relevant cognition and highlight the value of combining naturalistic paradigms with topological approaches to capture behaviorally meaningful signatures.

Indexed as

Affective neuroscienceBrain dynamicsCognitive rigidityDesign thinkingMapperNaturalistic fMRISelf-focused cognitionSocial interactionTopological Data Analysis (TDA)Trait rumination

Identifiers

PMID41497618
PMCPMC12767640

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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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.