Breakdown in the temporal and spatial organization of spontaneous brain activity during general anesthesia
Jianfeng Zhang, Zirui Huang, Yali Chen, Jun Zhang, Diana Ghinda, Yuliya S. Nikolova, Jinsong Wu, Jianghui Xu, Wenjie Bai, Ying Mao, Zhong Yang, Niall W. Duncan, Pengmin Qin, Hao Wang, Bing Chen, Xuchu Weng, Georg Northoff
Human Brain Mapping January 28, 2018 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.23984 via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractDuring anesthetic-induced unconsciousness, two temporal features of brain activity—long-range temporal correlations (measured by power-law exponent) and temporal variability (measured by standard deviation)—both decrease globally across the brain compared to wakefulness. The spatial relationship between these two features becomes altered, or 'decoupled,' primarily due to changes in the spatial pattern of long-range temporal correlations rather than temporal variability. This suggests that the topographical organization of long-range temporal correlations is crucial for maintaining optimal neural dynamics during normal consciousness, supporting the temporo-spatial theory of consciousness.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Intervention | Anesthetic-induced unconsciousness |
| Keywords | Unconsciousness Wakefulness Neuroscience Psychology Spatial variability |
| Citations | 70 |
| Key finding | Both long-range temporal correlations and temporal variability show global reductions during anesthetic-induced unconsciousness compared to wakefulness, with a spatial decoupling between the two features driven by changes in long-range temporal correlations. |
Abstract
Which temporal features that can characterize different brain states (i.e., consciousness or unconsciousness) is a fundamental question in the neuroscience of consciousness. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), we investigated the spatial patterns of two temporal features: the long-range temporal correlations (LRTCs), measured by power-law exponent (PLE), and temporal variability, measured by standard deviation (SD) during wakefulness and anesthetic-induced unconsciousness. We found that both PLE and SD showed global reductions across the whole brain during anesthetic state comparing to wakefulness. Importantly, the relationship between PLE and SD was altered in anesthetic state, in terms of a spatial "decoupling." This decoupling was mainly driven by a spatial pattern alteration of the PLE, rather than the SD, in the anesthetic state. Our results suggest differential physiological grounds of PLE and SD and highlight the functional importance of the topographical organization of LRTCs in maintaining an optimal spatiotemporal configuration of the neural dynamics during normal level of consciousness. The central role of the spatial distribution of LRTCs, reflecting temporo-spatial nestedness, may support the recently introduced temporo-spatial theory of consciousness (TTC).