From Brain Networks to Cognitive Enhancement: Mechanisms, Modulation, and Interventions Across Health and Disease.

Advances in network neuroscience have transformed how we understand cognition, demonstrating that complex mental processes emerge from the dynamic interactions of distributed brain networks rather than from isolated regions. This shift has profound implications for clinical neuropsychology: it reframes cognitive decline, recovery, and enhancement as network-level phenomena, and it opens new opportunities for targeted intervention. For Neuropsychology, the central question is not simply how brain networks can be mapped or modulated, but how network integrity and reorganization explain measurable differences in cognition, everyday functioning, rehabilitation response, and cognitive reserve.Despite this progress, the field still faces important questions. How do network-level mechanisms map onto cognitive performance across different populations? Which neuromodulation protocols produce reliable, lasting cognitive change, and through which network reconfigurations? How does cognitive reserve interact with brain network integrity to buffer cognitive decline? And how can these mechanistic insights be translated into clinically meaningful interventions for aging populations, patients with brain tumors, individuals with neurodegenerative disease, and healthy individuals seeking cognitive optimization?This Research Topic aims to bring together cutting-edge work that addresses these questions from a unified, network-oriented perspective.This collection seeks to advance a unified, network-based understanding of cognitive function, decline, and enhancement, bridging mechanistic neuroscience and clinical translation. We invite contributions that integrate connectome-based approaches, non-invasive neuromodulation, and cognitive reserve frameworks, and that examine how these mechanisms operate across diverse populations — from healthy aging and high-performance contexts to neurological disease (brain tumors, neurodegenerative disorders, stroke, MCI). High priority will be given to studies that link mechanistic findings to actionable interventions, and that report transparent methodology and reproducible designs. The Topic aims to foster dialogue between basic network neuroscience and applied neuropsychology, accelerating the translation of brain network insights into clinically meaningful cognitive enhancement.This Research Topic is not intended to provide a general overview of neuromodulation techniques, imaging-guided stimulation, or cognitive enhancement in healthy individuals. Such contributions are welcome when they are directly linked to neuropsychological assessment, cognitive reserve, rehabilitation, or clinically meaningful cognitive outcomes.We welcome original research, reviews, and methods papers addressing, but not limited to: o Connectome-based biomarkers of cognitive function, decline, and recovery o Non-invasive brain stimulation (TMS, tDCS, tACS, focused ultrasoun ) targeting network-level mechanisms of cognition o Network-guided neuromodulation protocols for clinical populations (brain tumors, neurodegenerative disease, stroke, psychiatric conditions) o Cognitive reserve and brain network integrity: mechanisms, measurement, and clinical implications o Translational frameworks linking network neuroscience to cognitive rehabilitation and enhancement o Personalized, network-informed interventions for aging and clinical populations o Methodological advances in mapping cognition-relevant networks (multimodal imaging, computational modeling) o Cross-population comparisons between healthy individuals and clinical groupsUnlike existing collections that focus narrowly on a single neuromodulation technique, a single population, imaging-guided stimulation, or cognitive reserve in isolation, this Research Topic commits to a network-based conceptual thread as its unifying angle and explicitly bridges mechanism, neuropsychological assessment, and clinically meaningful intervention across healthy aging and clinical populations.Its distinctive focus is not neuromodulation or cognitive enhancement alone, but the way in which brain-network mechanisms can explain, predict, assess, or improve neuropsychological function. This integrative scope gives the collection its identity within the Neuropsychology section. Topic editors: ISABEL MARIA MARTIN MONZON, Davide Balos Cappon, Alvaro Pascual-Leone Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/86619/from-brain-networks-to-cognitive-enhancement-mechanisms-modulation-and-interventions-across-health-and-disease