Brain dynamics & entropy
Developing brain entropy as a window into the complexity and information capacity of spontaneous neural activity.
- Nonlinear dynamics
- Resting-state fMRI
- Brain network organization
Cognitive neuroscience · Neuroimaging
Mapping the brain’s
dynamic organization.
Postdoctoral Researcher · Department of Psychology
University of Science and Technology of China
I study how the brain’s complex functions emerge from its structure and dynamics—combining multimodal MRI, brain entropy, and non-invasive neuromodulation.
Based in Hefei, China
01 · About
From brain signals
to meaningful mechanisms.
I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), working at the intersection of cognitive neuroscience, neuroimaging, and neuromodulation.
I received my PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience from the State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning at Beijing Normal University in 2025. Previously, I worked as a Research Fellow and Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
My work develops and applies measures of brain entropy (BEN) to understand functional brain organization, intervention-induced plasticity, and mechanisms of neuropsychiatric conditions. I also investigate the functional architecture of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex using multimodal imaging and connectomics.
9+lead-author papers
700+Google Scholar citations
10+journals & conferences reviewed
02 · Research interests
Three connected questions.
My research links measurement, mechanism, and intervention across healthy cognition and brain disorders.
Multimodal neuroimaging
Integrating structural MRI, task and resting-state fMRI, perfusion, myelination, and connectomics.
- Functional parcellation
- Structure–function coupling
- Predictive modeling
Neuromodulation
Examining how TMS, neurofeedback, pharmacological intervention, and psychotherapy reshape brain dynamics.
- rTMS & iTBS
- Treatment response
- Translational neuroscience
03 · Publications
Work from the past two years.
Oxford AcademicCerebral
CortexVol. 35 · Issue 7
CortexVol. 35 · Issue 7
ElsevierNeuro
ImageVol. 312 · 121226
ImageVol. 312 · 121226
ElsevierBehavioural
Brain ResearchArticle 115985
Brain ResearchArticle 115985
ElsevierNeuro
therapeuticsVol. 22 · Issue 3
therapeuticsVol. 22 · Issue 3
Recent work appears across journals in systems neuroscience, neuroimaging, and neuromodulation.
2026 Preprint
A Tripartite Map of the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex
Song, D.#, Chen, G.#, Fu, M., Li, S., Zhang, M., Cui, Z., et al. · bioRxiv
Combining multimodal imaging, connectomics, and cross-dataset prediction, this work identifies three VMPFC subdivisions aligned with social cognition, value, and emotion.
2026 Article
Consistent Brain Entropy Changes During Rumination Across Three Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scanners
Lu, J.#, Song, D.#*, Chang, D., Zhang, X., Ma, X.*, & Wang, Z.* · Neural Plasticity
Across three MRI scanners, rumination showed reproducible increases in posterior midline BEN and decreases in visual cortex, supporting a robust dynamic signature of internally directed thought.
2025 Article
Altered resting-state brain entropy by rTMS across the human cortex
Song, D.*, Deng, X. P., Chang, D., & Wang, Z.* · Cerebral Cortex, 35(7)
Low-frequency rTMS and cTBS produced distinct, target-specific BEN changes across prefrontal, temporoparietal, and occipital stimulation sites, extending BEN as a marker of neuromodulation.
2025 Article
The relationships of resting-state brain entropy, ovarian hormones and BIS/BAS
Song, D.*, & Wang, Z.* · NeuroImage, 312, 121226
The study links progesterone to lower frontoparietal and limbic BEN and suggests that DLPFC brain dynamics mediate the relationship between progesterone and impulsivity.
2025 Online article
Age-dependent effects of intranasal oxytocin administration were revealed by resting brain entropy (BEN)
Song, D.*, & Wang, Z.* · Behavioural Brain Research, 115985
In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, intranasal oxytocin increased left TPJ entropy in younger adults but decreased it in older adults, revealing an age-dependent neural response.
2025 Article
The effects of intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) on resting-state brain entropy (BEN)
Liu, P., Song, D.*, Deng, X., Shang, Y., Ge, Q., Wang, Z.*, & Zhang, H.* · Neurotherapeutics, 22(3), e00556
Stimulation intensity reversed the direction of striatal BEN change: subthreshold iTBS reduced entropy, whereas suprathreshold iTBS increased it, highlighting intensity as a key therapeutic parameter.
2024 Editorial
Methodological development and applications of nonlinear dynamic analysis for neuroimaging
Song, D.*, Jann, K., & Wang, D. J. · Frontiers in Neurology, 15, 1387356
This editorial frames how nonlinear dynamic methods can complement conventional neuroimaging measures and introduces work spanning methodology, brain states, aging, and clinical applications.
# Equal contribution · * Corresponding author
04 · Current projects
What I am working on now.
Ongoing program
Brain Entropy Research
A systematic research program investigating how BEN relates to network organization, stimulation, neurochemical signaling, and clinical phenotypes.
BEN / 01
Recent preprint
Tripartite VMPFC Organization
Mapping anterior-to-posterior social, value, and affective subdivisions using multimodal imaging and cross-dataset predictive modeling.
View preprintLab research
Sleep Neuroscience & Brain–Computer Interfaces
Contributing neuroimaging and brain-dynamics methods to research at USTC’s Sleep Neuroscience and Brain–Computer Interface Laboratory.
Institutional profile05 · Academic activities
Research shared around the world.
Conference contributions verified against my Google Scholar record and official meeting programs.
2023
Montréal · Canada
29th OHBM Annual Meeting
- Temporal coherence of resting-state brain activity increased by high-frequency rTMS
- Reproducible brain entropy increases during rumination
2021
Virtual · originally scheduled for Seoul
27th OHBM Annual Meeting
- Higher prefrontal–parietal entropy, impulsivity, and adolescent drug-use risk
- Brain entropy substrates of fluid intelligence in adolescence
2021
Hohhot · China
23rd National Academic Conference of Psychology
- Three functional subregions in the human ventromedial prefrontal cortex
2020
Virtual conference
ISMRM & SMRT Annual Meeting
- Estimating cerebral blood flow from BOLD using deep dilated wide activation networks
2019
Shenzhen · China
22nd MICCAI
- Two-stage multi-loss super-resolution network for arterial spin labeling MRI
- Deep learning for BOLD-based brain perfusion prediction
2018
Singapore
24th OHBM Annual Meeting
- Associations between resting BEN and fALFF
- rTMS effects on stimulation-site and default-mode network connectivity
2017
Seoul · South Korea
5th International Congress on MRI
- Decreased brain entropy after 20 Hz rTMS over the left DLPFC
Workshop · Beijing, China
Brain and Entropy
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University · 25 December 2021
View workshop materials ↗06 · Contact
Let’s talk about
brains, data, and ideas.
I welcome conversations about collaborations, methods, open science, and research opportunities.
donghuisong@ustc.edu.cnDepartment of Psychology
University of Science and Technology of China
Hefei, Anhui, China