Edge Community Entropy is a Novel Neural Correlate of Aging and Moderator of Fluid Cognition

Abstract Decreased neuronal specificity of the brain in response to cognitive demands (i.e., neural dedifferentiation) has been implicated in age-related cognitive decline. Investigations into functional connectivity analogues of these processes have focused primarily on measuring segregation of nonoverlapping networks at rest. Here, we used an edge-centric network approach to derive entropy, a measure of nodal specialization, from spatially overlapping communities during cognitive task fMRI. Using Human Connectome Project Lifespan data (713 participants, 36-100 years old), we characterized a pattern of nodal despecialization differentially affecting the medial temporal lobe and limbic, visual, and subcortical systems. Global entropy uniquely covaried with age when controlling for network segregation. Importantly, relationships between both metrics and fluid cognition were age-dependent, although entropy’s relationship with cognition was specific to older adults. These results suggest entropy is a potentially important metric for examining how neurological processes in aging affect functional specialization at the nodal, network, and whole-brain level.