Neurotransmission-modulated whole-brain computation captures full task repertoire.

Journal: Cell reports
Published Date: Jan 16, 2026

Abstract

An important unsolved problem is how the brain survives in a complex world by performing a rich repertoire of computation on a minimal energy budget. Despite using a seemingly fixed architecture, the brain performs much better than current generations of computers and artificial intelligence. Neuromodulation is updating the effectiveness of signal transmission, giving rise to variable effective connectivity between regions to allow computational richness. Here, we integrate 19 empirical neurotransmitter maps as modulators of the underlying local regional dynamics in a whole-brain model of human brain activity. Our neurotransmission-modulated (NEMO) framework flexibly computes different tasks. For each individual, "brain computability" is defined as the ability to fit all tasks. Brain computability correlates with behavioral performance on individual tasks and with a general behavioral measure of intelligence. Overall, NEMO sculpts brain dynamics in a fixed brain architecture to compute the rich repertoire of tasks required for surviving and thriving.

Authors

  • Gustavo Deco
    Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience, Barcelona, Spain; Institucio Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avancats (ICREA), Spain.
  • Yonatan Sanz Perl
    Computational Neuroscience Group, Center for Brain and Cognition, Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.
  • Jakub Vohryzek
    Center for Brain and Cognition, Computational Neuroscience Group, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Roc Boronat 138, 08018 Barcelona, Spain; International Centre for Flourishing (multisite at Oxford, Aarhus and Barcelona), Oxford, UK; Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing, Linacre College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
  • Andrea I Luppi
    Department of Clinical Neurosciences and Division of Anaesthesia, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
  • Morten L Kringelbach
    University Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK; Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Denmark.

Keywords

No keywords available for this article.

External Resources

Popular Topics
Recent Journals