Individualized perturbation of the human connectome reveals reproducible biomarkers of network dynamics relevant to cognition

Significance The human brain is organized into complex networks whose interaction explains individual variability in cognitive abilities as well as symptoms of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Even though networks’ activity is canonically measured by recording spontaneous brain activity, recent evidence suggests individual differences in brain patterns are better captured in response to external perturbations. Here we used individualized brain stimulation to induce controlled perturbations in two brain networks, and observed the propagation of neural activity across local and distal regions with millisecond resolution. We show unique propagation patterns across stimulated networks, predicting individual differences in cognitive performance otherwise not observable through canonical resting-state recordings. Results promote perturbation-based neuroimaging for the identification of novel biomarkers of cognition as well as clinical conditions.