Biology subjects

Greenstein, N.

Publications and source records attributed to Greenstein, N..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Quantum-like dynamics in the human brain

Emerging new research indicates evidence of quantum-like (QL) probability laws, including interference effects, in non-quantum physical systems using coupled oscillators. This can produce QL states which can compute in a QL fashion. Given the success of using coupled oscillators for human whole-brain modelling, we investigate the possibility of QL dynamics in the human brain. Here, we investigate how the special topology of human brain anatomy together with QL bits can promote the rich dynamic repertoire necessary for human advanced cognition. We systematically changed the level of QL processing in a whole-brain model. We found the QL regime provided the best whole-brain model fit to large-scale human empirical neuroimaging data. Extraordinarily, at this optimum point we found significantly lower energy consumption than for the non-QL networks. Mechanistically, this implies that the significantly larger whole-brain spectral gap for QL networks offers a backbone to the functional metastability needed to provide the necessary dynamical regime for efficient computation. The underlying QL spectral gaps amplify through interference the metastability and richness of repertoire of the human brain. Overall, we found that the special topology of the human brain promotes QL information processing.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2018

Endogenous variation in ventromedial prefrontal cortex state dynamics during naturalistic viewing reflects affective experience

How we process ongoing experiences is shaped by our personal history, current needs, and future goals. Consequently, brain regions involved in generating these subjective appraisals, such as the vmPFC, often appear to be heterogeneous across individuals even in response to the same external information. To elucidate the role of the vmPFC in processing our ongoing experiences, we developed a computational framework and analysis pipeline to characterize the spatiotemporal dynamics of individual vmPFC responses as participants viewed a 45-minute television drama. Through a combination of functional magnetic resonance imaging, facial expression tracking, and self-reported emotional experiences across four studies, our data suggest that the vmPFC slowly transitions through a series of discretized states that broadly map onto affective experiences. Although these transitions typically occur at idiosyncratic times across people, participants exhibited a marked increase in state alignment during high affectively valenced events in the show. Our work suggests that the vmPFC ascribes affective meaning to our ongoing experiences.

neuroscience↗