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...
Advanced Science
November 20, 2025
Paolo Cardone, Charlotte Martial, Yonatan Sanz Perl et al.
3 citations
Abstract Disorders of consciousness (DoC), including unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS) and minimally conscious state (MCS), have limited treatment options and are characterized by low complexity of brain activity. Recent research suggests that psychedelic drugs, which enhance the complexity of brain activity, could offer promising therapies. Here, individualized whole‐brain computational...
Brain and Behavior
October 1, 2025
Pauline Fritz, Anaïs Pichelin, Aurore Ancion et al.
2 citations
This case, set within its medical and pharmacological context, provides a unique opportunity to study NDEs and their precipitating context. The reported transformations underscore the importance of recognizing NDEs for their possible long-term effects on patients and relevance to medical practice.
Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology
May 1, 2025
Paolo Cardone, Pablo Núñez, Naji Alnagger et al.
7 citations
With very few treatments available, post-comatose disorders of consciousness (DoC) pose one of the hardest challenges in modern neurology. Following promising clinical trial results in psychiatry, and a deepening understanding of their brain mechanisms, psychedelics have been suggested as a novel therapeutic drug for DoC patients, given that they increase the entropy or complexity of...
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...
iScience
January 17, 2025
Paolo Cardone, Arthur Bonhomme, Vincent Bonhomme et al.
9 citations
Post-comatose disorders of consciousness (DoC) represent persistent neurological conditions with limited therapeutic options and a poor prognosis. Recent works advocate for exploring the effects of psychedelics to enhance brain complexity in DoC and ameliorate their consciousness. We investigated sub-anesthetic concentration of the atypical psychedelic ketamine for treating post-comatose...
The International journal of clinical and experimental hypnosis
2025
Aminata Bicego, Naji Alnagger, Etzel Cardeña et al.
1 citation
Mystical-type experiences can be induced through techniques like hypnosis and meditation. These experiences are common in near-death experiences (NDEs) and have been linked to paranormal beliefs. This study explored auto-induced cognitive trance (AICT) as a method to induce mystical-type experiences and NDE outside of life threatening situations (NDE-like), as well as examining the influence of...
Neuromethods
2025
Naji Alnagger, Paolo Cardone, Javier Montupil et al.
AbstractKetamine is a versatile N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-antagonist used in various clinical settings. Ketamine dose-dependently induces psychoactive effects: at low, anti-hyperalgesic doses, these are minor or not detectable, but at subanesthetic doses, they may include dissociative, psychotomimetic, and psychedelic events. At an anesthetic dose, ketamine leads to a state of “(full)...
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...
Neurosci Conscious
June 15, 2024
Paolo Cardone, Naji Alnagger, Jitka Annen et al.
16 citations
Modern medicine has been shaken by the surge of psychedelic science that proposes a new approach to mitigate mental disorders, such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Clinical trials to investigate whether psychedelic substances can treat psychiatric conditions are now underway, yet less discussion gravitates around their use in neurological disorders due to brain injury. One...
Frontiers in Neuroscience
February 13, 2024
Benedetta Cecconi, Javier Montupil, Sepehr Mortaheb et al.
6 citations
Background: Disconnected consciousness describes a state in which subjective experience (i.e., consciousness) becomes isolated from the external world. It appears frequently during sleep or sedation, when subjective experiences remain vivid but are unaffected by external stimuli. Traditional methods of differentiating connected and disconnected consciousness, such as relying on behavioral...
bioRxiv Preprint Server
December 29, 2023
Iván Mindlin, Rubén Herzog, Laouen Belloli et al.
7 citations
preprint
Disorders of consciousness (DoC) are a challenging and complex group of neurological conditions characterised by absent or impaired awareness. The current range of therapeutic options for DoC patients is limited, offering few non-invasive pharmacological alternatives. This situation has sprung a growing interest in the development of novel treatments, such as the proposal to study the efficacy...
BJA Open
September 26, 2023
Javier Montupil, Paolo Cardone, Cécile Staquet et al.
32 citations
Neuroscientists agree on the value of locating the source of consciousness within the brain. Anaesthesiologists are no exception, and have their own operational definition of consciousness based on phenomenological observations during anaesthesia. The full functional correlates of consciousness are yet to be precisely identified, however rapidly evolving progress in this scientific domain has...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
July 29, 2023
Natalie Ertl, Will Lawn, Claire Mokrysz et al.
17 citations
BACKGROUND/AIM: Cannabis use is highly prevalent in adolescents; however, little is known about its effects on adolescent brain function. METHOD: = 70, 35 adolescents/35 adults). Pre-registered analyses examined the connectivity of seven major cortical and sub-cortical brain networks (default mode network, executive control network (ECN), salience network, hippocampal network and three striatal...
Science Advances
June 14, 2023
Leor Roseman, Christopher Timmermann, Daniel Golkowski et al.
65 citations
To understand how pharmacological interventions can exert their powerful effects on brain function, we need to understand how they engage the brain’s rich neurotransmitter landscape. Here, we bridge microscale molecular chemoarchitecture and pharmacologically induced macroscale functional reorganization, by relating the regional distribution of 19 neurotransmitter receptors and transporters...
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
2023
Rajanikant Panda, Audrey Vanhaudenhuyse, Andrea Piarulli et al.
15 citations
Hypnosis has been shown to be of clinical utility; however, its underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. This study aims to investigate altered brain dynamics during the non-ordinary state of consciousness induced by hypnosis. We studied high-density EEG in 9 healthy participants during eyes-closed wakefulness and during hypnosis, induced by a muscle relaxation and eyes fixation procedure....
bioRxiv Preprint Server
September 28, 2022
Yonatan Sanz Perl, Carla Pallavicini, Juan Piccinini et al.
preprint
Brain states are frequently represented using a unidimensional scale measuring the richness of subjective experience (level of consciousness). This description assumes a mapping between the high-dimensional space of whole-brain configurations and the trajectories of brain states associated with changes in consciousness, yet this mapping and its properties remain unknown. We combined whole-brain...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
July 13, 2022
Andrea I. Luppi, Justine Y. Hansen, Ram Adapa et al.
5 citations
preprint
Abstract To understand how pharmacological interventions can exert their powerful effects on brain function, we need to understand how they engage the brain’s rich neurotransmitter landscape. Here, we bridge microscale molecular chemoarchitecture and pharmacologically-induced macroscale functional reorganisation, by relating the regional distribution of 19 neurotransmitter receptors and...