2019 Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience

13-16 September 2019    Berlin, Germany

Technical Program

Paper Detail

Paper: PS-2A.32
Session: Poster Session 2A
Location: H Lichthof
Session Time: Sunday, September 15, 17:15 - 20:15
Presentation Time:Sunday, September 15, 17:15 - 20:15
Presentation: Poster
Publication: 2019 Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience, 13-16 September 2019, Berlin, Germany
Paper Title: Temporal dynamics of whole-brain networks across depths of unconsciousness
Manuscript:  Click here to view manuscript
License: Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32470/CCN.2019.1327-0
Authors: Dominic Standage, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom; Corson Areshenkoff, Joseph Nashed, Queen's University, Canada; Matthew Hutchison, Biogen, United States; Melina Hutchison, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, United States; Ravi Menon, Stefan Everling, Western University, Canada; Jason Gallivan, Queen's University, Canada
Abstract: An understanding of consciousness is a long-standing goal of philosophy, neuroscience and medicine. A productive approach toward this goal is to investigate unconsciousness, through the use of general anaesthesia. Most investigations of this kind have focused on the effects of anaesthetics on cellular mechanisms, but it is unclear how these effects are manifest at the whole-brain level. We used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the effects of the anaesthetic isoflurane on the dynamics of whole-brain network structure in macaque monkeys, following loss of consciousness. Analyses of the time-evolution of modular structure in these networks showed that higher isoflurane dose was associated with an increase in the number of modules, an increase in the uncoordinated movement of brain regions between modules, and an increase in the integration of brain networks derived from the modules. Conversely, higher dose was associated with a decrease in the coordinated movement of brain regions between modules and a decrease in intra-network connectivity. These results provide evidence for the fractionation and weakening of modular structure across depths of unconsciousness, and they take a step toward characterizing consciousness as an emergent property of whole-brain dynamics.