Exploring static and dynamic functional connectivity differences between cognitively impaired and non-impaired active professional fighters

Both static and dynamic FC differences between cognitively impaired and non-impaired active fighters were explored using resting-state fMRI. Reduced network strength in anterior default mode network and cerebellar network were observed in impaired fighters, as compared to the non-impaired fighters. Four dynamic FC states were identified with k-means clustering and abnormities in state 2 were observed in impaired fighters. Higher classification accuracy was obtained using dynamic FC matrices as input features to a non-linear classifier, as compared to using static FC matrices as input features, which demonstrates that the time-varying brain activities carry richer cognitive impairment-related information.