bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
August 4, 2026
Teresa Campillo-Ferrer, Tomas Berjaga-Buisan, Antonella Iadarola et al.
preprint
Abstract Experiences in which the sense of the body becomes distorted offer a unique window into how the brain constructs the bodily self. Despite their clinical relevance in conditions such as depersonalization and body-image disorders, large-scale brain dynamics underlying unusual bodily experiences (UBEs) remain poorly understood, and no prior study has examined them systematically across...
medRxiv
July 8, 2026
Paulina Clara Dagnino, Anne Maj van der Velden, Yonatan Sanz Perl et al.
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a heterogeneous mental disorder characterised by rumination. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is an evidence-based treatment developed to target rumination and recurrence risk. Ongoing studies have begun to identify neural changes associated with treatment effects. However, the low-dimensional organisation underlying whole-brain dynamics remains...
Hum Brain Mapp
July 1, 2026
Lorenzo Pasquini, Jakub Vohryzek, Anira Escrichs et al.
Modeled Long-Term Effects of Psilocybin on Dynamic Activity and Effective Connectivity of Fronto-Striatal-Thalamic Circuits.
medRxiv
June 23, 2026
Paulina Clara Dagnino, Anne Maj van der Velden, Henricus G. Ruhé et al.
Abstract Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a leading cause of disability worldwide with risk of onset and recurrence linked to depressive ruminative thought patterns. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is an evidence-based treatment for depression that targets the ability to recognise, decenter, and disengage from ruminative thought patterns. Elucidating how MBCT impacts hierarchical...
bioRxiv Preprint Server
June 7, 2026
Andrea I. Luppi, Dragana Manasova, Justine Y. Hansen et al.
preprint
Consciousness and cognition arise from the ongoing interactions between brain regions. Synchronous fluctuations of fMRI signals may indicate that two brain regions perform similar cognitive functions, but neural interactions are also constrained by anatomical connectivity and regions’ molecular, cytoarchitectonic, and metabolic profiles. Here we disentangle the respective contributions of...
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...
arXiv (Cornell University)
May 15, 2026
Jonas Mago, Edmundo Lopez-Sola, Jakub Vohryzek et al.
Minimal Phenomenal Experiences (MPEs) are states of consciousness in which wakefulness is preserved but phenomenal content is low or absent. The Entropic Brain Hypothesis (EBH) is a model of conscious processes that regards the entropy of spontaneous brain activity as a marker of 'phenomenal richness', exemplified by high-content psychedelic experiences (HCPEs). Yet recent human neuroimaging...
Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science
May 14, 2026
Anne Maj van der Velden, Jakub Vohryzek, Paulina Clara Dagnino et al.
BACKGROUND Depression is a prevalent and debilitating affective disorder characterised by the dominance and persistence of depressive rumination. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is an effective treatment for recurrent depression developed specifically to target rumination and recurrence risk by training metacognitive awareness and adaptive attention, emotion and self-regulation...
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 (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
October 3, 2025
Marian Martínez-Marín, Jakub Vohryzek, Anira Escrichs et al.
1 citation
preprint
Abstract Evaluating consciousness levels after coma remains clinically challenging, and probing the brain’s functional hierarchy offers model-based biomarkers of brain states. We characterize the hierarchy loss in disorders of consciousness (DoC) via departures from non-equilibrium dynamics. Irreversible, directed interactions are indexed by deviation from the fluctuation– dissipation theorem...
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...
Neuropsychopharmacology
September 12, 2025
Jakub Vohryzek, Andrea I. Luppi, Selen Atasoy et al.
2 citations
Exploring the intricate relationship between brain's structure and function, and how this affects subjective experience is a fundamental pursuit in neuroscience. Psychedelic substances offer a unique insight into the influences of specific neurotransmitter systems on perception, cognition and consciousness. Specifically, their impact on brain function propagates across the structural connectome...
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
July 21, 2025
Marcel Socoró-garrigosa, Yonatan Sanz Perl, Morten L. Kringelbach et al.
3 citations
Abstract Determining the scale of neural representations is a central challenge in neuroscience. While localized representations have traditionally dominated, evidence suggests information is also encoded in distributed, hierarchical networks. Recent research indicates that the hierarchy of causal influences shaping functional patterns serves as a signature of distinct brain states, with...
British Journal of Anaesthesia
April 1, 2025
Milan Van Maldegem, Jakub Vohryzek, Selen Atasoy et al.
3 citations
Ketamine, in doses suitable to induce anaesthesia in humans, gives rise to a unique state of unresponsiveness accompanied by vivid experiences and sensations, making it possible to disentangle the correlated but distinct concepts of conscious awareness and behavioural responsiveness. This distinction is often overlooked in the study of consciousness. The mathematical framework of connectome...
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...
medRxiv
February 7, 2025
Jakub Vohryzek, Anne Maj van der Velden, Willem Kuyken et al.
1 citation
preprint
BACKGROUND: Depression is a prevalent and debilitating affective disorder characterised by the dominance and persistence of depressive rumination. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is an effective treatment for recurrent depression developed specifically to target rumination and recurrence risk by training metacognitive awareness and adaptive attention, emotion and self-regulation...
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...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
November 7, 2024
Lorenzo Pasquini, Jakub Vohryzek, Anira Escrichs et al.
4 citations
preprint
Abstract Psilocybin has been shown to induce fast and sustained improvements in mental well-being across various populations, yet its long-term mechanisms of action are not fully understood. Initial evidence suggests that longitudinal functional and structural brain changes implicate fronto-striatal-thalamic (FST) circuitry, a broad system involved in goal-directed behavior and motivational...
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...
Communications Biology
September 19, 2024
Iván Mindlin, Rubén Herzog, Laouen Belloli et al.
18 citations
Disorders of consciousness (DoC) represent a challenging and complex group of neurological conditions characterised by profound disturbances in consciousness. The current range of treatments for DoC is limited. This has sparked growing interest in developing new treatments, including the use of psychedelic drugs. Nevertheless, clinical investigations and the mechanisms behind them are...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
June 25, 2024
Milan Van Maldegem, Jakub Vohryzek, Selen Atasoy et al.
2 citations
preprint
Abstract Ketamine is classified as a dissociative anaesthetic that, in sub-anaesthetic doses, can produce an altered state of consciousness characterised by dissociative symptoms, visual and auditory hallucinations, and perceptual distortions. Given the anaesthetic-like and psychedelic-like nature of this compound, it is expected to have different effects on brain dynamics in anaesthetic doses...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
May 31, 2024
Jakub Vohryzek, Selen Atasoy, Gustavo Deco et al.
8 citations
preprint
Exploring the intricate relationship between brain's structure and function, and how this affects subjective experience is a fundamental pursuit in neuroscience. Psychedelic substances offer a unique insight into the influences of specific neurotransmitter systems on perception, cognition and consciousness. Specifically, their impact on brain function propagates across the structural...
National Science Review
May 1, 2024
Jakub Vohryzek, Joana Cabral, Christopher Timmermann et al.
13 citations
The human brain is a complex system, whose activity exhibits flexible and continuous reorganization across space and time. The decomposition of whole-brain recordings into harmonic modes has revealed a repertoire of gradient-like activity patterns associated with distinct brain functions. However, the way these activity patterns are expressed over time with their changes in various brain states...
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...