Space generally overshadows time in the construction of theories in cognitive neuroscience. In this paper, we pivot from the spatial axes to the temporal, analyzing fMRI image series to reveal structures in time rather than space. To determine affinities among global brain patterns at different times, core concepts in network analysis (derived from graph theory) were applied temporally, as relations among brain images at every time point during an fMRI scanning epoch. To explore the temporal structures observed through this adaptation of network analysis, data from 180 subjects in the Human Connectome Project were examined, during two experimental conditions: passive movie viewing and rest. The temporal brain, like the spatial brain, exhibits a modular structure, where “modules” are intermittent (distributed in time). These temporal entities are here referred to as themes. Short sequences of themes – motifs – were studied in sequences from 4 to 11 s in length. Many motifs repeated at constant intervals, and are therefore rhythmic; rhythms, converted to frequencies, were often harmonic. We speculate that the structure and interaction of these global oscillations underwrites the capacity to experience and navigate a world which is both recognizably stable and noticeably changing at every moment – a temporal world. In its temporal structure, this brain-constituted world resembles music.

中文翻译：

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大脑中时间的音乐结构：休息和被动观看电影时功能磁共振成像中的重复、节奏和和谐

在认知神经科学的理论构建中，空间通常掩盖了时间。在本文中，我们从空间轴转向时间轴，分析功能磁共振成像图像系列以揭示时间而不是空间的结构。为了确定不同时间的全局大脑模式之间的亲和力，网络分析的核心概念（源自图论）被暂时应用，作为功能磁共振成像扫描时期每个时间点的大脑图像之间的关系。为了探索通过网络分析的这种适应性观察到的时间结构，在两种实验条件下检查了人类连接组计划中 180 名受试者的数据：被动观看电影和休息。时间脑与空间脑一样，呈现出模块化结构，其中“模块”是间歇性的（按时间分布）。这些时间实体在这里被称为主题。主题的短序列（基序）以长度为 4 到 11 秒的序列进行研究。许多主题以恒定的间隔重复，因此具有节奏感。转换为频率的节奏通常是和谐的。我们推测，这些全球振荡的结构和相互作用保证了体验和驾驭一个既明显稳定又时时刻刻发生明显变化的世界的能力——一个时间世界。在时间结构上，这个由大脑构成的世界类似于音乐。