A central question in neuroscience is how consciousness arises from the dynamic interplay of brain structure and function. Here we decompose functional MRI signals from pathological and pharmacologically-induced perturbations of consciousness into distributed patterns of structure-function dependence across scales: the harmonic modes of the human structural connectome. We show that...
Mounting evidence suggests that during conscious states, the electrodynamics of the cortex are poised near a critical point or phase transition and that this near-critical behavior supports the vast flow of information through cortical networks during conscious states. Here, we empirically identify a mathematically specific critical point near which waking cortical oscillatory dynamics operate,...
Mounting evidence suggests that during conscious states, the electrodynamics of the cortex are poised near a critical point or phase transition, and that this near-critical behavior supports the vast flow of information through cortical networks during conscious states. Here, for the first time, we empirically identify the specific critical point near which conscious cortical dynamics operate...
Investigating changes in brain function induced by mind-altering substances such as LSD is a powerful method for interrogating and understanding how mind interfaces with brain, by connecting novel psychological phenomena with their neurobiological correlates. LSD is known to increase measures of brain complexity, potentially reflecting a neurobiological correlate of the especially rich...
Human brains interpret external stimuli based on internal representations. One untested hypothesis is that the default-mode network (DMN), widely considered responsible for internally oriented cognition, can decode external information. Here, we posit that the unique structural and functional fingerprint of the precuneus (PCu) supports a prominent role for the posterior part of the DMN in this...
The brain is possibly the most complex system known to mankind, and its complexity has been called upon to explain the emergence of consciousness. However, complexity has been defined in many ways by multiple different fields: here, we investigate measures of algorithmic and process complexity in both the temporal and topological domains, testing them on functional MRI BOLD signal data obtained...
Prominent theories of consciousness emphasise different aspects of neurobiology, such as the integration and diversity of information processing within the brain. Here, we combine graph theory and dynamic functional connectivity to compare resting-state functional MRI data from awake volunteers, propofol-anaesthetised volunteers, and patients with disorders of consciousness, in order to...
How do we define consciousness? Besides philosophical endeavours, the development of modern neuroimaging techniques fostered a principled way of quantifying the neural correlates of consciousness. Acquiring and analysing resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) data, has allowed neuroscientists to noninvasively map the brain's functional...