Communications biology
January 28, 2023
Andrea I Luppi, Jakub Vohryzek, Morten L Kringelbach et al.
98 citations
Consciousness depends on how tightly brain function follows the brain's physical wiring. Using MRI scans, researchers measured structure-function coupling across spatial scales in people who were unconscious from anesthesia or brain injury and in people under psychedelics (LSD or ketamine). During loss of consciousness, function more closely tracked the brain's structural connections, a signature that could distinguish behaviorally similar brain-injured patients and detect covert consciousness. In contrast, psychedelics decoupled function from structure, and this decoupling correlated with physiological and subjective scores. The findings suggest that connectome harmonic decomposition reveals how neuromodulation and network architecture jointly shape consciousness.
Communications biology
August 5, 2024
Charlotte Maschke, Jordan O'Byrne, Michele Angelo Colombo et al.
50 citations
Consciousness may depend on brain activity poised at criticality—a state with complex patterns and high sensitivity to disruption. Analyzing resting-state EEG from healthy volunteers under propofol, xenon, or ketamine anesthesia, the study found that unconsciousness (from propofol or xenon) shifted brain dynamics away from avalanche criticality and the edge of chaos. Ketamine anesthesia preserved consciousness (vivid dreams) and criticality. Dynamical properties from resting EEG accurately predicted individual values of the perturbational complexity index (PCI), a TMS-based consciousness measure. The findings link perturbational complexity to criticality and suggest criticality is necessary for consciousness.
Communications biology
July 26, 2023
Ivani Brys, Sebastian A Barrientos, Jon Ezra Ward et al.
33 citations
Psychedelics like LSD, DOI, ketamine, and PCP produce profound changes in perception and cognition by inducing synchronized high-frequency oscillations across multiple brain regions. In rats, these drugs caused near-zero phase delays (<1 ms) in the ventral striatum and cortical areas, indicating hypersynchrony that likely disrupts information integration across neural systems. This shared pattern, despite different firing rate effects on interneurons and principal cells, suggests a key mechanism behind altered states of consciousness. Similar hypersynchrony may contribute to hallucinations and delusions in psychotic disorders, offering potential targets for new antipsychotic treatments.
Communications biology
September 19, 2024
I Mindlin, R Herzog, L Belloli et al.
18 citations
Combining whole-brain models with deep learning, researchers mapped the low-dimensional space of patients with disorders of consciousness and simulated pharmacological interventions by altering neuromodulatory levels. Serotonergic and opioid receptor activation shifted the models toward brain dynamics seen in healthier states, with improvements correlating with the mean density of activated receptors across the brain. This approach provides a way to explore therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs within ethical and methodological constraints, marking progress toward treatments for disorders of consciousness and other brain diseases.
Communications biology
April 18, 2025
S Parker Singleton, Christopher Timmermann, Andrea I Luppi et al.
7 citations
After DMT injection, the brain requires less control energy to transition between states compared to placebo, indicating a more flexible and less constrained brain dynamic. These energy changes track with EEG signal diversity and subjective intensity of the drug experience. The regional pattern of DMT's effects aligns with serotonin 2a receptor density, and a model using receptor distribution and pharmacokinetics can predict the drug's impact on brain energy trajectories.
Communications biology
March 11, 2025
Juan Ignacio Piccinini, Yonatan Sanz Perl, Carla Pallavicini et al.
6 citations
The transition into a psychedelic brain state is often overlooked in favor of static descriptions of acute effects. Using a time-dependent whole-brain model and fMRI data from 15 volunteers given intravenous DMT, the work shows that a transient of heightened reactivity in fronto-parietal regions and visual cortices correlates with serotonin 5HT2a receptor density. Simulated perturbations suggest that minimal disturbances can achieve maximal effects during this brief period, and the temporal evolution of these features aligns with pharmacokinetics. These findings indicate a mechanism for how short psychedelic episodes may exert a lasting influence over time.
Communications biology
August 13, 2025
Steven Kotler, Michael Mannino, Karl Friston et al.
2 citations
Intuition, often inconsistently defined, is reframed as an evolutionarily grounded pathfinding mechanism that emerges from the brain's optimization of its relationship with the environment. A review of empirical findings identifies relevant brain networks and links intuition to cognitive states like insight. Unsolved problems dynamically alter attractor landscapes, guiding future intuitions. The concept of 'opportunistic assimilation' is explored through nonlinear neurodynamics, and hippocampal sharp wave ripples are identified as potential neural correlates of intuition, given their role in creativity, choice, action planning, and abstract thinking. Two complementary frameworks—the free energy principle and metastable coordination dynamics—together provide a comprehensive neurodynamical account of intuition's neurophenomenology.
Communications biology
July 30, 2025
Johan Nakuci, Kanika Bansal
1 citation
A neuroreceptor-based modeling framework using cortical density maps of 19 neuroreceptors and transporters from PET scans can reconstruct BOLD-derived brain activity. The framework identified two neuroreceptor modules: one linked to higher-order associative networks and another to somatomotor and visual networks. Applied to independent datasets, it recovered the binding profiles of LSD and Modafinil, consistent with known pharmacology. It also uncovered associations between neuroreceptors and altered brain activity in neuropsychiatric disorders. The findings suggest the framework can elucidate neuromodulatory mechanisms and advance understanding of brain function across diverse states and conditions.
Communications biology
October 13, 2024
Nora A Bradford, Angela Shen, Brian Odegaard et al.
1 citation
A workshop and subawards program aimed to align United States federal funding mechanisms with consciousness research is described, including its motivation, execution, and outcomes, to encourage similar efforts locally and globally.
Communications biology
April 24, 2026
Tatum Askey, Daniel Allen-Ross, Daniil Luzyanin et al.
A single dose of psilocybin produces a sustained anti-nociceptive effect in chronic neuropathic pain models in male and female mice, mediated primarily by 5-HT2A receptors. Psilocybin significantly potentiates the analgesic efficacy of gabapentin, a standard-of-care treatment, representing the first preclinical evidence that a psychedelic can serve as a pain-network primer for existing analgesics. This finding suggests a novel therapeutic strategy, particularly for the 30-50% of neuropathic pain patients who fail gabapentin monotherapy. The data demonstrate that a single psilocybin injection produces sustained month-long changes that enhance gabapentin efficacy in a preclinical model.