The DPABI v3.0 (Data Processing & Analysis for Brain Imaging: http://rfmri.org/ dpabi), a MATLAB-based toolbox [37], was used for preprocessing. To minimize initial signal instability and help participants adjust to the scanning environment, the first ten volumes of each participant were excluded, leaving 170 remaining volumes. The rest of the process included slice timing, head motion correction, and normalization using EPI templates into the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) space and resampled into 3 × 3 × 3 mm3. Data used in this study adhered to the criteria of head motion <2 mm or 2°. Six motion vectors were regressed to remove nuisance signals. Subsequently, a bandpass filter (0.01–0.08 Hz) was implemented to mitigate the impact of low-frequency drift and high-frequency noise.
