Neurophysiological correlates of cortical hierarchy across the lifespan

Abstract

The brain processes information along a hierarchical structure, forming a gradient of cortical hierarchy from sensorimotor areas to transmodal areas. Here, we aim to understand which aspects of neural dynamics characterize this gradient and whether the respective spatial distribution varies across the lifespan. Therefore, we extracted neurophysiological features from magnetoencephalography recordings in 350 participants between 18 and 88 years during rest. Among traditional features related to the power spectrum, delta power (1-4 Hz) showed the most robust association with cortical hierarchy, increasing along this axis. Beyond traditional features, we employed comprehensive time-series characterization and identified a novel hierarchy-sensitive feature capturing the variability of the signals mean over time. This feature increases along the cortical hierarchy, suggesting that higher-level brain areas exhibit more dynamic and context-dependent activity patterns. Furthermore, we highlight changes in the gradient of brain dynamics across the lifespan. Alpha power distribution, for instance, exhibits a posterior-anterior gradient in young adults that becomes less pronounced with increasing age. Further, the change of the autocorrelation and auto mutual information function along the cortical hierarchy is heavily modulated by age. These findings reveal simple but robust neurophysiological markers of cortical hierarchy and highlight the dynamic nature of the brains organization throughout life.