Anca Rădulescu, Eva Kaslik, Alexandru Fikl, Johan Nakuci, Sarah Muldoon, Michael Anderson
arXiv
Abstract
BibTeX
@article{RadulescuKaslikFiklNakuciMuldoonAnderson2025,
title = {
Fractal geometry predicts dynamic differences in structural and functional
connectomes
},
author = {
Anca R\u{a}dulescu and Eva Kaslik and Alexandru Fikl and Johan Nakuci and
Sarah Muldoon and Michael Anderson
},
year = 2025,
month = may,
day = 16,
doi = {10.48550/arXiv.2505.11477},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.11477},
eprint = {2505.11477},
archiveprefix = {arXiv},
primaryclass = {nlin.CD},
abstract = {
Understanding the intricate architecture of brain networks and its
connection to brain function is essential for deciphering the underlying
principles of cognition and disease. While traditional graph-theoretical
measures have been widely used to characterize these networks, they often
fail to fully capture the emergent properties of large-scale neural
dynamics. Here, we introduce an alternative approach to quantify brain
networks that is rooted in complex dynamics, fractal geometry, and
asymptotic analysis. We apply these concepts to brain connectomes and
demonstrate how quadratic iterations and geometric properties of
Mandelbrot-like sets can provide novel insights into structural and
functional network dynamics. Our findings reveal fundamental distinctions
between structural (positive) and functional (signed) connectomes, such as
the shift of cusp orientation and the variability in equi-M set geometry.
Notably, structural connectomes exhibit more robust, predictable features,
while functional connectomes show increased variability for non-trivial
tasks. We further demonstrate that traditional graph-theoretical measures,
when applied separately to the positive and negative sub-networks of
functional connectomes, fail to fully capture their dynamic complexity.
Instead, size and shape-based invariants of the equi-M set effectively
differentiate between rest and emotional task states, which highlights
their potential as superior markers of emergent network dynamics. These
results suggest that incorporating fractal-based methods into network
neuroscience provides a powerful tool for understanding how information
flows in natural systems beyond static connectivity measures, while
maintaining their simplicity.
},
}