Tomas Berjaga-Buisan
Computational Neuroscience Group, Center for Brain and Cognition, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona
Biological naturalist Consciousness requires living metabolic hardware
Berjaga-Buisan is the corresponding author of the 2026 Cell Reports paper “Thermodynamics of consciousness, non-equilibrium brain dynamics track conscious states,” which identifies violations of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem in humans and rodents across wakefulness, anesthesia, and disorders of consciousness. His earlier master’s thesis work at the same lab, on assessing consciousness by perturbing a dynamic mean-field whole-brain model fitted to empirical neuroimaging data, is the direct precursor to the non-invasive framework the 2026 paper introduces.
The methodological contribution is specific. Where the perturbational complexity index requires an actual transcranial magnetic stimulation pulse and reads the brain’s evoked response, Berjaga-Buisan’s framework infers an equivalent response property from a whole-brain model fitted only to spontaneous, unperturbed signals. The fluctuation-dissipation theorem gives the model a way to predict what a perturbation response would look like without applying one, and the paper reports that violations of that predicted relationship mirror PCI’s separation of conscious from unconscious states.
That result matters for consciousness measurement generally, since it lowers the bar for what a physical, theory-grounded consciousness marker requires from a recording session. It does not settle which theory of consciousness is correct, and Berjaga-Buisan’s own papers are careful to frame the finding as an empirical link between two measurement traditions rather than a verdict on either.
Known for. Non-equilibrium thermodynamics of whole-brain models, fluctuation-dissipation theorem violations as a non-invasive consciousness marker
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Tomas Berjaga-Buisan is listed with the other biological naturalists, who hold that consciousness requires living metabolic hardware. The theory family behind that position is set out in the index of consciousness theories. Every researcher covered on this site is indexed in the directory of consciousness researchers.