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Joel Pearson

4 papers in the library · 134 citations · publishing 2016-2025

Papers

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The potential risks of opening the mind's eye with psychedelic therapies.

Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior October 1, 2025 Roger Koenig-Robert, Rebecca Keogh, Joel Pearson 3 citations

Psychedelic therapy is on the rise, as its legalisation is ongoing in multiple countries. Here, we write a note of warning regarding recent reports that people with aphantasia (a blind mind's eye) have acquired visual mental imagery after using psychedelics. While the prospect of gaining, or indeed increasing, visual mental imagery is appealing to many, strong mental imagery has been associated...

Imageless imagery in aphantasia revealed by early visual cortex decoding.

Current biology : CB February 3, 2025 Shuai Chang, Xinyu Zhang, Yangjianyi Cao et al.

Activity in the early visual cortex is thought to tightly couple with conscious experience, including feedback-driven mental imagery. However, in aphantasia (a complete lack of visual imagery), the state of mental imagery, what takes its place, or how any activity relates to qualia remains unknown. This study analyzed univariate (amplitude) and multivariate (decoding)...

Harmonic Brain Modes: A Unifying Framework for Linking Space and Time in Brain Dynamics

The Neuroscientist September 1, 2017 Selen Atasoy, Gustavo Deco, Morten L. Kringelbach et al. 131 citations

A fundamental characteristic of spontaneous brain activity is coherent oscillations covering a wide range of frequencies. Interestingly, these temporal oscillations are highly correlated among spatially distributed cortical areas forming structured correlation patterns known as the resting state networks, although the brain is never truly at "rest." Here, we introduce the concept of harmonic...

Human brain networks function in connectome-specific harmonic waves

Nature Communications January 21, 2016 Selen Atasoy, I. Donnelly, Joel Pearson

A key characteristic of human brain activity is coherent, spatially distributed oscillations forming behaviour-dependent brain networks. However, a fundamental principle underlying these networks remains unknown. Here we report that functional networks of the human brain are predicted by harmonic patterns, ubiquitous throughout nature, steered by the anatomy of the human cerebral cortex, the...