Human brain dynamics and spatiotemporal trajectories during threat processing.

ABSTRACT: Functional MRI (fMRI) research has traditionally investigated task processing using static blocked or event-related designs. Consequently, our understanding of threat processing remains limited to findings from paradigms with restricted dynamics. In this paper, we applied switching linear dynamical systems (SLDSs) to uncover the dynamics of threat processing during a continuous threat-of-shock paradigm. Unlike typical systems neuroscience studies that assume systems are decoupled from external inputs, we characterized both endogenous and exogenous contributions to the dynamics. We first demonstrated that the SLDS model learned the regularities of the experimental paradigm; states and state transitions estimated from fMRI data across 85 regions of interest reflected both threat proximity an

SUBMITTER: Misra J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12854673 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature