It's time to move beyond abstract debates and build a mechanistic systems neuroscience that bridges circuits to #consciousness. Thanks to my co-authors, especially @adykstra.bsky.social @tmarvan.bsky.social @jonescompneurolab.bsky.social, for leading this effort!

#consci

The same circuit principles apply across disorders of consciousness, dementia, and psychiatric conditions. These aren't separate disorders but variations in how circuit disruptions manifest as symptoms in conscious experience.

Here's what excites me most: consciousness isn't merely a philosophical abstraction. It's a measurable, treatable dimension of symptomatic experience. When we understand the circuit basis of consciousness, we understand neurological symptoms at their most fundamental level.

Our review shows how new methods in neuroimaging, biophysical modeling, and human systems neuroscience can finally begin to test what's actually happening at the circuit level, from arousal to the thalamus and the cortex.

This gap hurts both neuroscience and consciousness research. It has informed my take on the field of consciousness science today. We're building increasingly abstract theories on signals we can't properly explain.

A personal story: For years, I've watched #consciousness debates narrow into IIT vs GNW camps while we overlooked something fundamental: we don't actually understand the circuit mechanisms that generate the macroscale EEG signals used to support these theories.

Thalamic deep brain stimulation in traumatic brain injury: a phase 1, randomized feasibility study www.nature.com/articles/s41...

can we do a control where they learn the opposite (stalactites as stalagmites) and see what it does to their love of science