PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Andrew J. Stier
AU  - Carlos Cardenas-Iniguez
AU  - Omid Kardan
AU  - Tyler M. Moore
AU  - Francisco A. C. Meyer
AU  - Monica D. Rosenberg
AU  - Antonia N. Kaczkurkin
AU  - Benjamin B. Lahey
AU  - Marc G. Berman
TI  - A Scale-Free Gradient of Cognitive Resource Disruptions in Childhood Psychopathology
AID  - 10.1101/2021.08.24.457554
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2021.08.24.457554
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/08/26/2021.08.24.457554.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/08/26/2021.08.24.457554.full
AB  - The Hurst exponent (H) isolated in fractal analyses of neuroimaging time-series is implicated broadly in cognition. The connection between H and the mathematics of criticality makes it a candidate measure of individual differences in cognitive resource allocation. Relationships between H and multiple mental disorders have been detected, suggesting that H is transdiagnostically associated with psychopathology. Here, we demonstrate a gradient of decreased H with increased general psychopathology and attention-deficit/hyperactivity extracted factor scores during a working memory task which predicts concurrent and future working memory performance in 1,839 children. This gradient defines psychological and functional axes which indicate that psychopathology is associated with an imbalance in resource allocation between fronto-parietal and sensory-motor regions, driven by reduced resource allocation to fonto-parietal regions. This suggests the hypothesis that impaired cognitive function associated with psychopathology follows from a reduced cognitive resource pool and a reduction in resources allocated to the task at hand.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.