Neuronal connected burst cascades bridge macroscale adaptive signatures across arousal states.

A microscale biophysical network model of layer-5 pyramidal neurons reproduces coarse-sampled dynamics seen in macroscale electrophysiological recordings from macaques and humans. By inverting the model, the authors identify spike and burst dynamics that distinguish unconscious, dreaming, and awake arousal states and reveal their functional signatures. Neuromodulatory arousal shifts neuronal dynamics around a low-dimensional energy landscape, altering the model's response to external stimuli. The work demonstrates how multiscale modeling can connect theories of consciousness across spatiotemporal scales.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The human brain displays a rich repertoire of states that emerge from the microscopic interactions of cortical and subcortical neurons. Difficulties inherent within large-scale simultaneous neuronal recording limit our ability to link biophysical processes at the microscale to emergent macroscopic brain states. Here we introduce a microscale biophysical network model of layer-5 pyramidal neurons that display graded coarse-sampled dynamics matching those observed in macroscale electrophysiological recordings from macaques and humans. We invert our model to identify the neuronal spike and burst dynamics that differentiate unconscious, dreaming, and awake arousal states and provide insights into their functional signatures. We further show that neuromodulatory arousal can mediate different modes of neuronal dynamics around a low-dimensional energy landscape, which in turn changes the response of the model to external stimuli. Our results highlight the promise of multiscale modelling to bridge theories of consciousness across spatiotemporal scales.