Dynamic Resting-State Connectivity Differences in Eyes Open Versus Eyes Closed Conditions

Introduction: Previous studies have shown significant conditional differences between eyes open, fixated at an image (EO) and eyes closed (EC) in the acquired resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data. Aim: We recently showed significant functional network connectivity (FNC) differences between EO and EC across a variety of networks. In this study, we aim at further evaluating differences in dynamic FNC (dFNC) between EO and EC. Materials and Methods: Rs-fMRI were collected from adolescents aged 9-15 years old during both EO and EC conditions, and dFNC was calculated by using the independent component analysis framework. Results: We found that out of five states (clusters), state 1 was observed to be more dominant in the EO condition, whereas state 2 was observed to be more dominant in the EC condition. States 1 and 2 showed significant differences in the mean dwell time based on false discovery rate, and states 1, 2, 3, and 4 differed in the frequency of occurrences. These results are consistent with our previous study of static connectivity in suggesting that EO and EC differences not only are relatively strong but also importantly reveal that these differences vary over time, especially in one particularly transient connectivity pattern. Conclusion: Our results manifest as changes in the proportion of time spent in unique functional connectivity patterns, and they show unique transient functional connectivity patterns in a subset of identified states. Overall, our findings indicate that both static and dynamic rs-fMRI connectivity patterns are strongly impacted by basic conditional differences such as EO and EC. Our findings not only suggest that eyes open, fixated at an image (EO) and eyes closed (EC) condition-related resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging differences are relatively strong, but they also reveal an important attribute of these conditions that these differences vary over time, especially in one particularly transient connectivity pattern. Our results manifest as changes in the proportion of time spent in unique functional connectivity patterns, and they show unique transient functional connectivity patterns in a subset of identified states. We believe there is benefit in having the EO/EC as a contrast of interest in future studies, if time allows.