Open AccessConsciousness is supported by near-critical slow cortical electrodynamics
Author(s) -
Daniel Toker,
Ioannis Pappas,
Janna D. Lendner,
Joel Frohlich,
Diego M. Mateos,
Suresh Muthukumaraswamy,
Robin CarhartHarris,
Michelle Paff,
Paul Vespa,
Martin M. Monti,
Friedrich T. Sommer,
Robert T. Knight,
Mark D’Esposito
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2024455119
Subject(s) - unconsciousness , consciousness , edge of chaos , criticality , physics , neuroscience , cortex (anatomy) , statistical physics , stability (learning theory) , cerebral cortex , psychology , computer science , artificial intelligence , psychiatry , machine learning , nuclear physics
Significance What changes in the brain when we lose consciousness? One possibility is that the loss of consciousness corresponds to a transition of the brain’s electric activity away from edge-of-chaos criticality, or the knife’s edge in between stability and chaos. Recent mathematical developments have produced tools for testing this hypothesis, which we apply to cortical recordings from diverse brain states. We show that the electric activity of the cortex is indeed poised near the boundary between stability and chaos during conscious states and transitions away from this boundary during unconsciousness and that this transition disrupts cortical information processing.