Abstract: Uncovering the neural mechanisms that allow conscious access to information is a major challenge of neuroscience. An incomplete list of still open questions includes: What are the necessary brain computational properties to permit access to a stream of conscious contents? What is the relationship between conscious perception, self-awareness and multisensory processing of bodily signals? How do these processes change when the brain transitions to an ‘unconscious’ state (like sleep, anesthesia or pathological conditions)? Can we externally trigger state-of-consciousness (SOC) transitions by means of stimulation? In this presentation Dr. Sitt will present his work and latest developments including different pre-clinical and clinical experimental models (brain-injuries and/or anesthesia), neuroimaging methods (EEG, fMRI or brain/body interactions) and stimulation techniques (tES, auditory/somatosensory/visual stimulation). Overall Dr. Sitt will try to demonstrate that the integration of multimodal neural information provides critical information to characterize the state-of-consciousness in physiological and pathological conditions and might help to predict novel optimal therapeutic strategies.
Bio: Prof Sitt is a physician with a bachelor's degree in physics. He received multidisciplinary training as a psychiatrist while simultaneously pursuing a doctorate in the physics of dynamic systems. This dual orientation has brought him into contact with the daily challenges of clinical practice. But, at the same time, to acquire advanced tools from mathematical modelling, non-linear dynamics, the science of complexity, information theory and data mining, which are essential to analyze and interpret biomedical issues. In November 2015, he was recruited by INSERM as a permanent independent researcher (CRCN, promoted to DR2 research director in 2019). His research plan focuses on testing the causal role of neural markers of consciousness, using different experimental models (brain injury, sleep and anesthesia), neuroimaging methods (M/EEG, sEEG, fMRI) and stimulation techniques (tES, auditory stimulation).