Athena Demertzi

@Ademertzi
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78 Posts
Experimenter charmed by unconsciousness. FNRS Principal Investigator directing the Physiology of Cognition lab, GIGA CRC ULiège | Gestalt psychotherapist on the side. Pacifist and proponent of kindness, wellbeing, inclusivity, & Open Science. Easily disgusted by academic snobbism. Mom.
https://www.gigaphysiologycognition.uliege.be
🙏 Immensely grateful for the support of F.R.S. - FNRS, GIGA - Université de Liège, University of Liège the EU COST Association - European Cooperation in Science and Technology Action CA18106, the Fondation Léon Fredericq, #MSCA Program #NeuronsXnets https://bit.ly/3ZXErDQ
Network Analysis in Neocortex during Passive and Active Learning | neuronsXnets Project | Fact Sheet | H2020 | CORDIS | European Commission

How does the brain perform the complicated computations that allow us to learn about and interact with the environment? The rapid advances in new optical imaging, the powerful statistical analysis/machine-learning techniques, and the availability of computational resources...

CORDIS | European Commission
👏 This was a highly collaborative work between our Physiology of Cognition Lab GIGA Cyclotron Research Centre in vivo imaging, and Psychopharmacology Maastricht. Many thanks Jan Ramaekers, #Natasha_Mason, Pablo Mallaroni, Sepehr Mortaheb, PhD #Larry_Fort, and yours truly.
👉 We suggest that the brain's tendency to enter a hyperconnected-hyperarousal pattern under psilocybin represents the potential to entertain variant mental associations. For the first time, these findings link brain dynamics with phenomenological alterations, providing new insights into the neurophenomenology and neurophysiology of the psychedelic state.
💡 Changes in the neurobiological patterns displayed that psilocybin induced widespread increases in averaged functional connectivity.
💡Time-varying connectivity analysis unveiled a recurrent hyperconnected pattern characterized by low BOLD signal amplitude, suggesting heightened cortical arousal.
💡In terms of #neurophenomenology, canonical correlation analysis primarily linked the transition probabilities of the hyperconnected pattern with oceanic boundlessness (OBN), and with visionary restruct
🔧 Healthy participants received either psilocybin (n=22) or placebo (n=27) while in ultra-high field 7T MRI scanning. Changes in the phenomenological patterns were quantified using the 5-Dimensional Altered States of Consciousness (5D-ASC) Rating Scale, revealing alterations across all dimensions under psilocybin.

I know the world is crazy at the moment, but I'll preserve the likeness of creativity and share this latest work.

📣 Preprint alert! 📣

“Dynamic Functional Hyperconnectivity after Psilocybin Intake is Primarily Associated with Oceanic Boundlessness” https://bit.ly/3QmoV15
🍄 We know that psychedelics alter brain dynamics and subjective experience.
🧐 But how are these changes related?

📢 Publication alert. Our study "Whole-brain deactivations precede uninduced mind-blanking reports" is out in JNeurosci!

bit.ly/3RsplnC

Here, #HakwanLau gives lot of context for the "pseudo" word of rthe open letter. It's illuminating, I wish I read this earlier. Although not convinced by the P of the theory, I worry about the systemic flaws & salut the courage to safeguard the scientific stance of the C study

https://psyarxiv.com/28z3y

“A Student’s Guide to Open Science” walks students through the history of the replication crisis & the behaviours that we can engage in to improve transparency, replication, & reproducibility. It’s written for students, researchers, & supervisors. What’s behind the cover?
This weekend the Cyclotron Research Center participates in #Retrouvailles2023 in Liège. We are ready to explain our research, come over at tent 226! @UniversitedeLiege