Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
July 12, 2026
Giulio Ruffini
This work presents a structured theoretical framework for understanding mind, agency, and experience through the lens of algorithmic information theory, tracing a philosophical lineage from Pythagoras and Aristotle through Kant and Turing to Kolmogorov. The framework, designated KT-ESP, proposes that an agent can be modeled as an algorithmic entity that receives information, constructs...
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 28, 2026
Giulio Ruffini, Francesca Castaldo
Pharmacological neuroplastogens---psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, ketamine---open transient windows of enhanced neural plasticity that can catalyze therapeutic change in mood disorders. Their mechanism, in the language of predictive processing, is to flatten high-level priors so that bottom-up prediction errors propagate freely and remodel the agent's generative model. We have argued, from first...
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 28, 2026
Giulio Ruffini
We state clean consistency constraints on any descriptive (structural) mathematical theory of phenomenal consciousness. Let the configuration space \(U\) of physically realizable systems be connected (under admissible deformations) and let a descriptive theory deliver a symmetry\-invariant scalar \(p:U [0,1]\) (a ``phenomenality score'') together with an optional crisp classifier \(P= {1}\{p...
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 28, 2026
Giulio Ruffini, Francesca Castaldo
Pharmacological neuroplastogens---psychedelics, ketamine, MDMA---open transient windows of enhanced neural plasticity that can catalyze therapeutic change in mood disorders and beyond. Their clinical promise, however, is constrained by safety concerns, regulatory barriers, and unsuitability for vulnerable populations such as adolescents. Here we argue, from first principles within the...
Philosophy and the Mind Sciences
May 27, 2026
Edmundo Lopez-Sola, Roser Sanchez-Todo, Jakub Vohryzek et al.
1 citation
The phenomenon of “pure awareness”, central to many contemplative traditions, has recently attracted scientific interest for its relevance to the study of consciousness. In this paper, we investigate pure awareness through the algorithmic agent model, a computational framework with roots in algorithmic information theory. This framework proposes that agents build compressive models of the...
SSRN Electronic Journal
2026
Jakub Vohryzek, Elvira Garcia Guzman, Morten L. Kringelbach et al.
1 citation
Despite divergent behavioral and phenomenological profiles, both psychedelic states and reduced states of consciousness have been associated with a flattening of the brain's functional hierarchy. To address this apparent paradox, we developed a more specific definition of hierarchy based on the proximity of the brain to thermodynamic equilibrium and then applied it to investigate the changes to...
bioRxiv
September 25, 2025
Jakub Vohryzek, Edmundo Lopez-Sola, Winson F.z. Yang et al.
preprint
Advanced meditation offers a powerful lens for investigating consciousness and for understanding how sustained training may contribute to human flourishing. In the spirit of neurophenomenology, we combine first-person reports with model-free empirical analyses and formal whole-brain modeling to investigate the mechanisms underlying advanced meditative states and minimal phenomenal experience...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
March 19, 2025
Giulio Ruffini, Edmundo Lopez-Sola, Raul P. Aristides et al.
8 citations
preprint
Abstract Predictive coding frameworks suggest that neural computations rely on hierarchical error minimization, where sensory signals are evaluated against internal model predictions. However, the neural implementation of this inference process remains unclear. We propose that cross-frequency coupling (CFC) furnishes a fundamental mechanism for this form of inference. We first demonstrate that...
Entropy (Basel, Switzerland)
January 19, 2025
Giulio Ruffini, Francesca Castaldo, Jakub Vohryzek
6 citations
In the Kolmogorov Theory of Consciousness, algorithmic agents utilize inferred compressive models to track coarse-grained data produced by simplified world models, capturing regularities that structure subjective experience and guide action planning. Here, we study the dynamical aspects of this framework by examining how the requirement of tracking natural data drives the structural and...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
December 16, 2024
Jan C. Gendra, Edmundo Lopez-Sola, Francesca Castaldo et al.
7 citations
preprint
Abstract Classical serotonergic psychedelics show promise in addressing neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease by modulating pathological brain dynamics. However, the precise neurobiological mechanisms underlying their effects remain elusive. This study introduces a personalized whole-brain model built upon a laminar neural mass framework to elucidate these effects. Using...
Entropy
November 6, 2024
Giulio Ruffini, Francesca Castaldo, Edmundo Lopez-Sola et al.
10 citations
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a complex, heterogeneous condition affecting millions worldwide. Computational neuropsychiatry offers potential breakthroughs through the mechanistic modeling of this disorder. Using the Kolmogorov theory (KT) of consciousness, we developed a foundational model where algorithmic agents interact with the world to maximize an Objective Function evaluating...
Entropy
January 22, 2024
Giulio Ruffini, Edmundo Lopez-Sola, Jakub Vohryzek et al.
15 citations
We explore the intersection of neural dynamics and the effects of psychedelics in light of distinct timescales in a framework integrating concepts from dynamics, complexity, and plasticity. We call this framework neural geometrodynamics for its parallels with general relativity’s description of the interplay of spacetime and matter. The geometry of trajectories within the dynamical landscape of...
PLoS Computational Biology
February 1, 2023
Giulio Ruffini, Giada Damiani, Diego Lozano-Soldevilla et al.
28 citations
A topic of growing interest in computational neuroscience is the discovery of fundamental principles underlying global dynamics and the self-organization of the brain. In particular, the notion that the brain operates near criticality has gained considerable support, and recent work has shown that the dynamics of different brain states may be modeled by pairwise maximum entropy Ising models at...
August 30, 2022
Giulio Ruffini, Edmundo Lopez-Sola, Jakub Vohryzek
3 citations
preprint
Here we discuss the impact of issues recently raised about theories of consciousness in light of the so-called "unfolding argument" and the more general falsification requirements on causal structure theories of consciousness. These arguments potentially affect the algorithmic information theory of consciousness (KT), where the structure of a computational system is seen to shape subjective...
Journal of Neural Engineering
July 3, 2020
Julien Modolo, Mahmoud Hassan, Giulio Ruffini et al.
We aimed at characterizing, in non-invasive human brain recordings, the large-scale, coordinated activation of distant brain regions thought to occur during conscious perception. This process is termed ignition in the Global Workspace Theory, and integration in Integrated Information Theory, which are two of the major theories of consciousness. Here, we provide evidence for this process in...
Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience
2019
Julia Moser, Siouar Bensaid, Eleni Kroupi et al.
In this work, we aim to investigate whether information based metrics of neural activity are a useful tool for the quantification of consciousness before and shortly after birth. Neural activity is measured using fetal magnetoencephalography (fMEG) in human fetuses and neonates. Based on recent theories on consciousness, information-based metrics are established to measure brain complexity and...
Neuroscience of Consciousness
2017
Giulio Ruffini
75 citations
Providing objective metrics of conscious state is of great interest across multiple research and clinical fields-from neurology to artificial intelligence. Here we approach this challenge by proposing plausible mechanisms for the phenomenon of structured experience. In earlier work, we argued that the experience we call reality is a mental construct derived from information compression. Here we...