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Bridging Brain Structure and Function: Structural-Functional Brain Network Coupling and Frontal Midline Theta Connectivity in Cognitive Abilities

Poster Session D - Monday, March 9, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Henrike M. Jungeblut¹ (), Mareike J. Hülsemann¹, Erhan Genç², Anna-Lena Schubert¹; ¹Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany, ²Leibniz Research Center for Working Environment and Human Factors Dortmund, Germany

Structural connectivity (SC) and functional connectivity (FC) of brain networks are key neural features underlying individual differences in general cognitive abilities. Variations in SC may influence cognitive abilities indirectly by shaping FC, with the alignment between SC and FC captured by the SC-FC brain network coupling index. We propose that cognitive abilities emerge from an optimized SC-FC coupling as well as the dynamic regulation of frontal midline theta connectivity in the millisecond range. In this preregistered work in progress (https://osf.io/52fkr), we investigate MRI-derived SC-FC coupling and EEG-derived theta connectivity dynamics as two complementary predictors of general cognitive abilities. Our sample includes 215 healthy adults (102 males, 113 females) with a mean age of M = 27.71 years (SD = 6.76, range 18 – 40) who underwent extensive cognitive ability testing. EEG data during a task-switching cognitive control task were collected in 212 participants. 160 participants also underwent functional MRI measurements during an MRI-adapted version of the same cognitive control task as well as diffusion-weighted measurements. We quantify SC-FC coupling using graph-theoretical brain network communication metrics and apply structural equation modeling to estimate the latent association between the connectivity measures and general cognitive ability, while simultaneously controlling for measurement error. We expect that both SC-FC coupling and theta connectivity dynamics will significantly relate to individual differences in cognitive abilities. Moreover, a strong relationship between these connectivity predictors would suggest that optimized SC-FC coupling facilitates the dynamic modulation of functional connectivity during cognitive control mechanisms.

Topic Area: METHODS: Neuroimaging