Hyperlocal Spatial Flows in BOLD fMRI Expose Novel Brain-Based Correlates of Schizophrenia

While analysis of temporal signal fluctuations has long been a fixture of blood oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research, the role of spatially localized directional diffusion in both signal propagation and emergent large-scale functional integration remains almost entirely neglected. We are proposing an extensible framework to capture and analyze spatially localized fMRI directional signal flow dynamics. The approach is validated in a large resting-state fMRI schizophrenia study where it uncovers significant and novel relationships between hyperlocal spatial dynamics and subject diagnostic status.