Cell Reports
August 1, 2026
Rui Dai, Hyunwoo Jang, A. Hudetz et al.
Understanding the relationship of conscious states to large-scale brain dynamics remains a central challenge in neuroscience. Here, diverse pharmacological and physiological perturbations-including psychedelics, sleep, and propofol sedation-are used to examine integration-segregation organization of brain networks across altered states of consciousness in humans using functional MRI. Across...
bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology
June 1, 2026
Panagiotis Fotiadis, Hyunwoo Jang, Rui Dai et al.
Brain waves are ubiquitous phenomena of human brain activity. As they propagate, they coordinate neural communication, shaping conscious perception. Understanding how brain waves unfold across space and time is thus critical for uncovering the neural mechanisms that support and suppress consciousness. Here, we analyzed data from the Human Connectome Project alongside multiple independent human...
Scientific Data
January 9, 2026
Zirui Huang, Vijay Tarnal, Panagiotis Fotiadis et al.
Anesthesia has revolutionized surgical practice and offers a controlled model to study the neurobiology of consciousness. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have shown that anesthesia primarily disrupts connectivity across association cortices, suggesting that impaired integration between higher-order brain regions underlies unconsciousness. However, traditional fMRI paradigms...
bioRxiv
November 26, 2025
Rui Dai, Rodrigo Cofré, Christopher Timmermann et al.
preprint
The mechanism of psychedelic drug action is a dynamic area of neuroscience, with two major lines of investigation: (1) laboratory studies at the molecular and cellular level, and (2) human neuroimaging studies of functional brain networks. Despite considerable progress, there remains insufficient understanding of the link between molecular/cellular substrates of psychedelics and the whole-brain...
bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology
October 23, 2024
Rui Dai, Hyunwoo Jang, Anthony G. Hudetz et al.
1 citation
preprint
Understanding neural mechanisms of consciousness remains a challenging question in neuroscience. A central debate in the field concerns whether consciousness arises from global interactions that involve multiple brain regions or focal neural activity, such as in sensory cortex. Additionally, global theories diverge between the Global Neuronal Workspace (GNW) hypothesis, which emphasizes frontal...
Brain Sciences
August 30, 2024
Hyunwoo Jang, Rui Dai, George A. Mashour et al.
Accurate and generalizable classification of brain states is essential for understanding their neural underpinnings and improving clinical diagnostics. Traditionally, functional connectivity patterns and graph-theoretic metrics have been utilized. However, cortical gradient features, which reflect global brain organization, offer a complementary approach. We hypothesized that a machine learning...
Commun Biol
December 19, 2023
Rui Dai, Zirui Huang, Tony E. Larkin et al.
7 citations
Psychedelic concentrations of nitrous oxide reduce functional differentiation in frontoparietal and somatomotor cortical networks.
Neuroimage
June 1, 2023
Rui Dai, Tony E. Larkin, Zirui Huang et al.
49 citations
The neurobiology of the psychedelic experience is not fully understood. Identifying common brain network changes induced by both classical (i.e., acting at the 5-HT2 receptor) and non-classical psychedelics would provide mechanistic insight into state-specific characteristics. We analyzed whole-brain functional connectivity based on resting-state fMRI data in humans, acquired before and during...
Human Brain Mapping
July 1, 2013
Zirui Huang, Rui Dai, Xuehai Wu et al.
104 citations
Recent studies have demonstrated resting-state abnormalities in midline regions in vegetative state/unresponsive wakefulness syndrome and minimally conscious state patients. However, the functional implications of these resting-state abnormalities remain unclear. Recent findings in healthy subjects have revealed a close overlap between the neural substrate of self-referential processing and the...
Rui Dai, Hyunwoo Jang, Anthony G. Hudetz et al.
Understanding the relationship of conscious states to large-scale brain dynamics remains a central challenge in neuroscience. Here, diverse pharmacological and physiological perturbations, including psychedelic states, sleep, and propofol sedation, were used to examine integration-segregation organization of brain networks across altered states of consciousness in humans using functional MRI....