The dual interpretation of edge time series: Time-varying connectivity versus statistical interaction

Brain activity and connectivity have been linked to ongoing behavior and mentation but usually in isolation and almost never in the same model. Here, we show that “edge time series”—a recently proposed method for tracking moment-to-moment connectivity changes—are equivalent to an interaction term in a linear model. By including terms for activations in the same model, it provides an elegant framework for assessing the relative explanatory power of edges and activations. In our work, we use this modeling framework to study time-varying behavior in zebrafish, worms, and humans. We find that connectivity contains unique explanatory power above and beyond activity.