{
  "abstract": "The quest for reliable and objective measures of consciousness is critical in basic and clinical neuroscience. Across species, the perturbational complexity index (PCI) has emerged as a robust empirical marker by directly perturbing the brain, yet its relationship to broader physical principles remains unclear. Here, we address this gap by introducing a non-invasive framework based on generative whole-brain models of non-equilibrium brain dynamics. Using these models, we identify violations of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem (FDT) in humans and rodents across wakefulness, anesthesia, and disorders of consciousness (DoC). Mirroring PCI, FDT violations decrease in unresponsive DoC and anesthesia compared with conscious conditions. These findings reveal a robust empirical link between PCI and non-equilibrium dynamics in spontaneous brain signals, suggesting that non-equilibrium dynamics capture an important aspect of perturbational complexity. Overall, this framework opens non-invasive, model-based avenues for understanding consciousness and supports efforts to assess its loss and recovery in health and disease.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Center for Brain and Cognition, Computational Neuroscience Group, Department of Engineering, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08005 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: tomas.berjaga@upf.edu",
    "Instituto de Física Rosario CONICET-UNR, Rosario 2000, Argentina; Laboratorio de Colisiones Atómicas, FCEIA, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Rosario 2000, Argentina",
    "Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), 08036 Barcelona, Spain; Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona (UB), 08028 Barcelona, Spain",
    "Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20157 Milan, Italy",
    "Center for Brain and Cognition, Computational Neuroscience Group, Department of Engineering, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08005 Barcelona, Spain",
    "Padova Neuroscience Center (PNC), University of Padova, 35129 Padova, Italy; Department of Neuroscience, University of Padova, 35128 Padova, Italy; Venetian Institute of Molecular Medicine (VIMM), 35129 Padova, Italy",
    "Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), 08036 Barcelona, Spain; Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), 08010 Barcelona, Spain",
    "Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, 20157 Milan, Italy; IRCCS, Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi Onlus, 20148 Milan, Italy",
    "International Centre for Flourishing, Universities of Oxford (UK), Aarhus (Denmark) and Pompeu Fabra (Spain), Oxford OX3 9BX, UK; Department of Engineering, Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires B1644BID, Argentina; Center for Brain and Cognition, Computational Neuroscience Group, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08005 Barcelona, Spain",
    "International Centre for Flourishing, Universities of Oxford (UK), Aarhus (Denmark) and Pompeu Fabra (Spain), Oxford OX3 9BX, UK; Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), 08010 Barcelona, Spain; Center for Brain and Cognition, Computational Neuroscience Group, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08005 Barcelona, Spain"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 13,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Tomas Berjaga-Buisan",
      "orcid": "0009-0008-4709-6317"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "J M Monti",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8652-4600"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Martina Cortada",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3659-2592"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Michele A. Colombo"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Sebastián Geli",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-5594-5533"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Gianluca Gaglioti",
      "orcid": "0009-0004-7420-7968"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Simone Sarasso",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9984-4710"
    },
    {
      "name": "Morten L. Kringelbach",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3908-6898"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Maurizio Corbetta",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8295-3304"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Maria Victoria Sanchez-Vives",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8437-9083"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Marcello Massimini",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2271-957X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8
      ],
      "name": "Yonatan Sanz Perl",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1270-5564"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9
      ],
      "name": "Gustavo Deco",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8995-7583"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8mepzrygg9fc5.bib",
  "cited_by": 6,
  "doi": "10.1016/j.celrep.2026.117782",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "8mepzrygg9fc5",
  "issns": [
    "2211-1247",
    "2639-1856"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2026.117782",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
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      "2805|Neural dynamics and brain function"
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  "openalex": "W7171968608",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": "PMC13506674",
  "pmid": "42541725",
  "published": "2026-07-31",
  "publisher": "Cell Press",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8mepzrygg9fc5.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-07T13:20:56Z",
      "native_id": "W7171968608",
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      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2026.117782"
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:2805|Neural dynamics and brain function",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
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  ],
  "title": "Thermodynamics of consciousness: Non-equilibrium brain dynamics track conscious states",
  "title_text": "Thermodynamics of consciousness: Non-equilibrium brain dynamics track conscious states",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-08T13:20:49Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8mepzrygg9fc5",
  "venue": "Cell Reports",
  "versions": []
}