# ABFR-KAN: Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks for Functional Brain Analysis

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.00416 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.00416/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 19 of its 78 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 1 Jan 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 19 of 19)

- [An Image is Worth 16x16 Words: Transformers for Image Recognition at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.11929/) (2020)
- [Graph Attention Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.10903/) (2017)
- [Training data-efficient image transformers & distillation through attention](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.12877/) (2020)
- [EfficientNetV2: Smaller Models and Faster Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.00298/) (2021)
- [Vision Mamba: Efficient Visual Representation Learning with Bidirectional State Space Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.09417/) (2024)
- [KAN: Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.19756/) (2024)
- [U-KAN Makes Strong Backbone for Medical Image Segmentation and Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.02918/) (2024)
- [Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks are Radial Basis Function Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.06721/) (2024)
- [Wav-KAN: Wavelet Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.12832/) (2024)
- [KAN 2.0: Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks Meet Science](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.10205/) (2024)
- [The Kolmogorov-Arnold representation theorem revisited](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.15884/) (2020)
- [BSRBF-KAN: A combination of B-splines and Radial Basis Functions in Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.11173/) (2024)
- [Demonstrating the Efficacy of Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks in Vision Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.14916/) (2024)
- [On the expressiveness and spectral bias of KANs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.01803/) (2024)
- [Unveiling the Power of Wavelets: A Wavelet-based Kolmogorov-Arnold Network for Hyperspectral Image Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.07869/) (2024)
- [Suitability of KANs for Computer Vision: A preliminary investigation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.09087/) (2024)
- [CEST-KAN: Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks for CEST MRI Data Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.16026/) (2024)
- [BrainNetMLP: An Efficient and Effective Baseline for Functional Brain Network Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.11538/) (2025)
- [Improving Brain Disorder Diagnosis with Advanced Brain Function Representation and Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.03923/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Functional connectivity (FC) analysis, a valuable tool for computer-aided brain disorder diagnosis, traditionally relies on atlas-based parcellation. However, issues relating to selection bias and a lack of regard for subject specificity can arise as a result of such parcellations. Addressing this, we propose ABFR-KAN, a transformer-based classification network that incorporates novel advanced brain function representation components with the power of Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks (KANs) to mitigate structural bias, improve anatomical conformity, and enhance the reliability of FC estimation. Extensive experiments on the ABIDE I dataset, including cross-site evaluation and ablation studies across varying model backbones and KAN configurations, demonstrate that ABFR-KAN consistently outperforms state-of-the-art baselines for autism spectrum distorder (ASD) classification. Our code is available at https://github.com/tbwa233/ABFR-KAN.