Infection-related images reduce cortical edge metastability: a specification-curve analysis of a block-design fMRI study

Infection-related images reduce cortical edge metastability in 44 adults, with a pre-specified specification-curve effect of Cohen’s d = -0.31 (permutation p = .042).

• Why it matters: The behavioral immune system links disgust, attention, withdrawal, and social shifts, but it is unclear whether infection cues coordinate whole-cortex dynamics.
• What they did: In a block-design fMRI study, participants viewed alternating 18-s blocks of infection-related versus neutral images; the primary test used a pre-specified specification-curve analysis of temporal variability in mean cofluctuation across parcel pairs.
• The result: The group-level reduction persisted after multiple preprocessing steps (including global signal regression) with d = -0.47, recurred in a second run (d = -0.44), and was smaller on strictly alternating blocks (d = -0.36), implying narrower residual global cofluctuation variability.

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