ZOOM MEETING LINK: myumi.ch/v2ZYv

Re-scheduled from earlier this fall.

ABSTRACT:
Why is it so difficult to develop a systematic approach to modulate the recovery of consciousness from pharmacologically and pathologically induced unconsciousness? Three things are required to develop a systematic approach; a reliable neural activity that corresponds to consciousness, a reliable brain stimulation to induce the target neural activity, and a mechanism to guarantee the induced neural activity results in consciousness. However, no single neural activity or a mechanism has been identified yet as a neural correlate of consciousness, suggesting that consciousness might emerge through complex interactions of spatially and temporally distributed brain functions. Accumulating evidence from computational model and empirical studies suggest that brain criticality – a balanced state between order and disorder, stability and instability, incoherent and synchronized connectivity at a global network level, is a necessary condition for the emergence of consciousness. Thus, in our research project, we hypothesized that with modulating brain network criticality, we may be able to control the state transition during the loss and recovery of consciousness in general anesthesia and coma. In this talk, I will introduce our current project that aims to develop a systematic method to precisely evaluate a brain state in altered states of consciousness and to control the emergence from unconsciousness, which is based on highly advanced methods in physics, network science, and neurobiology of consciousness.

Please join us 15 minutes before and after the seminar for a social coffee hangout. Put your speakers and video on and say hi to old friends or go to the 'lounge' and chat with an acquaintance