Symphony of Well-Being: Harmony Between Neural Variability and Self-Construal

Abstract

Both neural activities and psychological processes vary over time. Individuals with interdependent self-construal tend to define themselves and adjust their behaviors to social contexts and others. The current research tested the hypothesis that the coordination between interdependent self-construal and neural variability could predict life satisfaction changes in university freshmen. We integrated resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning and self-construal assessment to estimate self-dependent neural variability (SDNV). In the whole-brain prediction, SDNV successfully predicted individuals’ life satisfaction changes over 2 years. Interdependent individuals with higher neural variability and independent individuals with lower neural variability became more satisfied with their lives. In the network-based prediction, the predictive effects were significant in the default mode, frontoparietal control, visual and salience networks. The important nodes that contributed to the predictive models were more related to psychological constructs associated with the social and self-oriented functions. The current research sheds light on the neural and psychological mechanisms of the subjective well-being of individuals from a dynamic perspective.

Neural variability fingerprint predicts individuals’ information security violation intentions

“…Neural variability, which refers to the temporal variability in regional functional connectivity, may be an indicator of brain flexibility and adaptability or a predictor of neural rehabilitation [51] . Recent studies on neural variability have also shown its predictive effect on life satisfaction and recovery from depressive symptoms [16] , [17] . Moreover, research has shown that the across-trial variability in the neural response is significantly correlated with trial history-dependent response time changes and that neural variability in the premotor cortex can predict motor task performance [33] .…”

Differences in well-being

“…People with higher positive affect had more diversity in the connections of the insula with other brain regions. Similarly, Fan et al (2021) reported that the whole brain self-dependent neural variability (i.e., the variability of functional connectivity between all regions across the brain) is associated to higher satisfaction with life. fNRIS…”