NeuroImage
February 4, 2026
Chun-Yan Wang, Dong-Dong Zhou
EEG microstate sequences, which reflect brief patterns of brain activity, show precise temporal rhythms across theta, alpha, beta, and gamma frequency bands. These rhythms persist during both wakefulness and reversible unconsciousness induced by anesthesia or deep sleep. The periodic patterns arise from repeating multimer structures and the duration of each microstate, as shown by surrogate data analysis and a generative model. During deep sedation and N3 sleep, beta-band microstates specifically increase in peak power and shift to a lower center frequency. A new algorithm extracted these multimer sequences, revealing distinct frequency-dependent changes during unconsciousness that point to a shift toward specific dynamical brain regimes. The findings offer potential neurophysiological biomarkers for assessing consciousness.
NeuroImage
February 4, 2026
Gabriel Della Bella, Agustina Velez Picatto, Dante Sebastián Galván Rial et al.
A participant who can reliably enter a self-induced non-ordinary state of consciousness (NOC) characterized by vivid imagery, altered bodily perception, and a sense of unity underwent 20 fMRI sessions. Compared to a control group, during the transition into the NOC state, functional connectivity became more variable, indicating temporary destabilization of network organization. In the NOC state, connectivity between brain networks broadly decreased, especially visual cortex coupling with auditory, sensorimotor, and other regions, while frontoparietal and salience networks increased coupling with precuneus and temporal areas, matching reports of inward attention and absorption. Entropy and complexity measures tracked the experience and returned to baseline afterward.
NeuroImage
January 29, 2026
Dmitri Filimonov, Mika Koivisto, Antti Revonsuo
The most reliable brain-activity markers of visual consciousness, measured with EEG, are an early component called visual awareness negativity (VAN) and a later component called late positivity (LP). Three prior reviews concluded that VAN is specifically tied to awareness, while LP also reflects other mental processes. This review of 53 new studies published since 2020 confirms that VAN remains the most robust neural correlate of visual consciousness, whereas LP is not uniquely linked to consciousness. However, questions remain about how VAN relates to attention and other physiological factors.