Neural flexibility in metabolic demand dynamics reveals sex-specific differences and supports cognition in late childhood

Abstract

Dynamic coordination of metabolic demand across brain networks supports emerging cognitive abilities and may drive overall cognitive development, yet how these dynamics vary by sex and relate to cognition in late childhood remains unclear. Using resting-state fMRI from 2,000 healthy 9-to 11-year-olds in the ABCD study, we applied time-resolved dynamic time warping to quantify amplitude mismatches, a proxy of relative energy demand across brain intrinsic networks. Clustering revealed three recurring states: convergent (globally balanced), divergent (imbalanced), and mixed (intermediate). Females spent engaged more with the flexible mixed state, whereas males lingered longer in convergent and divergent states. Across the cohort, better performance on cognitive flexibility, processing speed, and long-term memory tasks correlated with greater overall time in the mixed state and with higher transition rates, but with shorter dwell in any single state. These findings indicate that neural flexibility, rather than prolonged stability, supports cognition during late childhood and that sex differences in dynamic energy coordination emerge well before adolescence.