Neural variability does not encode interindividual sensory sensitivity but reflects intraindividual sensory perception. (A) Point-by-point partial correlations between trial-averaged SD ([High + Low]/2) and sensitivity measured by mean ratings ([High + Low]/2) to sensory stimuli of four modalities in Dataset 1 (N = 141). No significant correlations were found in any modality. Note that no gray bars are shown because none of the partial correlation coefficients survived FDR correction (all P values > 0.05). The color bars underneath display the corresponding Bayes factor values for the correlations. Note that part-corr is short for partial correlation. The light-colored “bursty” curves represent the subject-averaged residuals of mean SD after regressing out mean amplitude. (B) Point-by-point intraindividual correlations between neural variability and ratings to sensory stimuli for each trial in Dataset 1 (N = 141). The gray bars represent t-statistics at time points where significant differences were observed after FDR correction. (C) Point-by-point partial correlations between trial-averaged SD and mean ratings to sensory stimuli of four modalities in Datasets 2&3 (N = 225). (D) Point-by-point intraindividual correlations between neural variability and ratings to sensory stimuli for each trial in Datasets 2&3 (N = 225). These results illustrate that neural variability encodes sensory perception at the intraindividual level, but does not encode sensory sensitivity at the interindividual level.
Variability in #NeuralActivity is associated with cognition, but how does it relate to pain? @li-bo-zhang.bsky.social &co show that neural variability correlates with how individuals perceive #pain intensity in different contexts @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/48QPR2S