Dynamical structure-function correlations provide robust and generalizable signatures of consciousness in humans

Summary

Brain activity during unconsciousness, whether from general anaesthesia or slow wave sleep, is dominated by a recurrent functional connectivity pattern primarily mediated by structural connectivity and with a reduced capacity to transition to other patterns. Conscious awareness is characterized by richer brain dynamics measured by entropy and a greater repertoire of connectivity states. These findings suggest that the dynamic exploration of functional connectivity states provides robust and generalizable markers for the state of consciousness across different conditions.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging evolves through a repertoire of functional connectivity patterns which might reflect ongoing cognition, as well as the contents of conscious awareness. We investigated whether the dynamic exploration of these states can provide robust and generalizable markers for the state of consciousness in human participants, across loss of consciousness induced by general anaesthesia or slow wave sleep. By clustering transient states of functional connectivity, we demonstrated that brain activity during unconsciousness is dominated by a recurrent pattern primarily mediated by structural connectivity and with a reduced capacity to transition to other patterns. Our results provide evidence supporting the pronounced differences between conscious and unconscious brain states in terms of whole-brain dynamics; in particular, the maintenance of rich brain dynamics measured by entropy is a critical aspect of conscious awareness. Collectively, our results may have significant implications for our understanding of consciousness and the neural basis of human awareness, as well as for the discovery of robust signatures of consciousness that are generalizable among different brain conditions.