Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39103539›Full record

ArticleCommunications biology2024

Critical dynamics in spontaneous EEG predict anesthetic-induced loss of consciousness and perturbational complexity.

Charlotte Maschke, Jordan O'Byrne, Michele Angelo Colombo, Melanie Boly, Olivia Gosseries, Steven Laureys, Mario Rosanova, Karim Jerbi, Stefanie Blain-Moraes

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Communications biology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
32citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

32 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Recovery from disorders of consciousness: Lesions and GABAergic modulation in a biologically inspired spiking neural network.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
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  15. Cortical Mechanisms Contributing to Ketamine-Induced Dissociation.The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry · 2026
    Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Charlotte Maschke *Montreal General Hospital, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Jordan O'Byrne *Cognitive & Computational Neuroscience Lab, Psychology Department, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Michele Angelo ColomboDepartment of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Melanie BolyDepartment of Neurology and Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA.
Olivia GosseriesComa Science Group, GIGA Consciousness, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
Steven LaureysComa Science Group, GIGA Consciousness, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
Mario RosanovaDepartment of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Karim JerbiCognitive & Computational Neuroscience Lab, Psychology Department, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-3790-9651
Stefanie Blain-MoraesMontreal General Hospital, McGill University Health Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada. stefanie.blain-moraes@mcgill.ca.ORCID 0000-0001-7837-6700

Funding

electroencephalography and single-unit recordingsK23NS112473 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI BOLY, MELANIE · 2021 to 2025
$815k
NINDS NIH HHS K23 NS112473
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Consciousness has been proposed to be supported by electrophysiological patterns poised at criticality, a dynamical regime which exhibits adaptive computational properties, maximally complex patterns and divergent sensitivity to perturbation. Here, we investigate dynamical properties of the resting-state electroencephalogram (EEG) of healthy subjects undergoing general anesthesia with propofol, xenon or ketamine. Importantly, all participants were unresponsive under anesthesia, while consciousness was retained only during ketamine anesthesia (in the form of vivid dreams), enabling an experimental dissociation between unresponsiveness and unconsciousness. For each condition, we measure (i) avalanche criticality, (ii) chaoticity, and (iii) criticality-related metrics, revealing that states of unconsciousness are characterized by a distancing from both avalanche criticality and the edge of chaos. We then ask whether these same dynamical properties are predictive of the perturbational complexity index (PCI), a TMS-based measure that has shown remarkably high sensitivity in detecting consciousness independently of behavior. We successfully predict individual subjects' PCI values with considerably high accuracy from resting-state EEG dynamical properties alone. Our results establish a firm link between perturbational complexity and criticality, and provide further evidence that criticality is a necessary condition for the emergence of consciousness.

Indexed as

ConsciousnessElectroencephalographyUnconsciousnessAdultAnesthesia, GeneralFemaleHumansKetamineMalePropofolYoung AdultKetaminePropofol

Identifiers

PMID39103539
PMCPMC11300875

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.