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John D. Pickard

Campo Arqueologico de Mertola

3 papers in the library · 26 citations · publishing 2020-2026

Papers

Distributed harmonic patterns of structure-function dependence orchestrate human consciousness

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) August 10, 2020 Andrea I. Luppi, Jakub Vohryzek, Morten L. Kringelbach et al. 26 citations preprint

Consciousness arises from how the brain's structural wiring shapes its dynamic activity. By decomposing resting-state fMRI data into harmonic modes of the human structural connectome, a generalizable signature of lost consciousness emerges—whether from anesthesia or brain injury—while a reversed signature characterizes psychedelic states induced by LSD or ketamine, reflecting decoupling of function from structure. This connectome harmonic approach discriminates between behaviorally indistinguishable brain-injured patients and tracks covert consciousness, linking neurobiology to conscious experience.

Network dynamics scale with levels of awareness

bioRxiv Preprint Server April 12, 2021 Peter Coppola, Lennart R.b. Spindler, Andrea I. Luppi et al. preprint

The diversity of brain dynamics within small-world network topology, measured as sample entropy (dSW-E), consistently predicts levels of awareness across sedation and disorders of consciousness, even after accounting for underlying functional connectivity dynamics. Both subcortical and cortical areas show predictive value, but subcortical regions exhibit higher and more robust effect sizes. The dynamic reorganization of the functional information architecture, especially in the subcortex, emerges with awareness and offers explanatory power beyond the complexity of dynamic functional connectivity alone.

The blueprint of human functional architecture shifts from cognition to anatomy during perturbations of consciousness

bioRxiv Preprint Server June 7, 2026 Andrea I. Luppi, Dragana Manasova, Justine Y. Hansen et al. preprint

Functional connectivity in the awake human brain is shaped primarily by cognitive co-activation—the tendency of brain regions to work together during mental tasks—more than by structural or molecular constraints. This predominance is systematically lost across five datasets involving pharmacological and pathological perturbations of consciousness (chronic disorders of consciousness; anesthesia with sevoflurane, propofol, or ketamine), when cognition is disconnected from the environment or abolished. During such states, the predictors of functional architecture shift away from cognitive co-activation and toward anatomical and molecular constraints.