10:50 AM (EST)

Welcome and Introduction

Catherine Duclos, PhD (Université de Montréal)

Stefanie Blain-Moraes, PhD (McGill University)

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (EST)

Keynote Address

Brian Edlow, MD (Harvard Medical School) 

Mapping the Connectivity of Consciousness

Dr. Edlow will discuss recent advances in the field of disorders of consciousness and how these advances influenced the recommendations of the 2018 United States and 2020 European Guidelines.  First, he will review the limitations of the bedside behavioral examination in detecting signs of consciousness.  Second, he will consider the clinical utility of task-based functional MRI and EEG, which detect signs of covert consciousness in 15-20% of patients who appear unresponsive on the bedside behavioral examination. Finally, he will discuss future directions in this field and how advanced neuroimaging and electrophysiological brain mapping tools can elucidate mechanisms of coma recovery. 

Moderator: Stefanie Blain-Moras, PhD (McGill University)

12:00-12:30 PM (EST)

Break

12:30-1:45 PM (EST)

Cognition and Perception

Moderator: Rose Jutras, Honours BSc candidate (Université de Montréal)

Yasmeen Nahas, BSc candidate  (Northwestern University, USA) 

Thought variability distinguishes states of consciousness

Torge Dellert, PhD (University of Münster, Germany) 

Isolating neural correlates of consciousness in the attentional blink

Despina Z. Artenie, MSc (Université du Québec à Montréal, QC) 

Using choice blindness with clinically relevant outcomes

Jay Olson, PhD (McGill University, QC) 

Emulating future neurotechnology using magic

Marie-Ève Cyr, MSc (McGill University,QC) 

Evening bright light exposure to improve sleep, alertness, and cognition in shift workers

1:45-2:00 PM (EST)

Coffee Break

2:00-4:00 PM (EST)

Disorders of Consciousness

Moderator: Kira Dolhan, MSc candidate (McGill University)

Stefanie Blain-Moraes, PhD (McGill University, QC)

Leveraging anesthesia for neuroprognostication in unresponsive patients

Charlotte Maschke, MSc (McGill University, QC)

EEG aperiodic component and response to propofol has diagnostic value for patients in disorders of consciousness

Vadim Axelrod, PhD (The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Israel) 

Naturalistic paradigms with fNIRS imaging:  a potential approach for basic research and diagnosing disorder of consciousness

Karnig Kazazian, BSc (Western University, ON)

Improving Diagnosis and Prognosis in Acute Severe Brain Injury: A Multimodal Imaging Protocol  

Matthew Kolisnyk, BSc (Western University, ON)

Detecting covert consciousness using movies in the intensive care unit: an fNIRS study 

Loretta Norton, PhD (King’s University College at Western University, ON) 

Examining neurological function during the dying process (NeuPaRT Study)

10:50 AM (EST)

Welcome Day 2

Catherine Duclos, PhD (Université de Montréal

Stefanie Blain-Moraes, PhD (McGill University)

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (EST)

Keynote Address

Anil K. Seth, PhD (University of Sussex) 

From beast machines to dreamachines

Consciousness remains one of the central mysteries in science and philosophy. In this talk, Dr. Seth will illustrate how the framework of predictive processing can help bridge from mechanism to phenomenology in the science of consciousness – addressing not the ‘hard problem’, but the ‘real problem’. Dr. Seth will first show how conscious experiences of the world around us can be understood in terms of perceptual predictions, drawing on psychophysics and virtual reality. He will ll then explore how the experience of being an embodied self can be understood in terms of control-oriented predictive (allostatic) regulation of the interior of the body. This implies a deep connection between mind and life: Contrary to the old doctrine of Descartes, we are conscious because we are beast machines. He will finish by describing a recent art-science collaboration – the dreamachine –  which involves stroboscopically induced visual hallucinations and a large-scale online survey of ‘perceptual diversity’.

Moderator: Catherine Duclos, PhD (Université de Montréal)

12:00-12:30 PM (EST)

Break

12:30-2:00 PM (EST)

Criticality and Consciousness

Moderator: Andrea Luppi, PhD (McGill University)

Charles Gervais, BSc candidate (Université de Montréal, QC) 

Criticality and its applications to altered states of consciousness: a scoping review

Guillermo Martinez Villar, BSc (Université de Montréal, QC) 

Between chaos and order: how network criticality and its anesthetic-induced changes are associated with level of consciousness in disorders of consciousness

Charlotte Maschke, MSc (McGill University, QC)

Chaoticity of the brain as a marker of depth of anesthetic-induced unconsciousness

Louis-David Lord, MSc, PhD (University of Oxford, UK) 

Altered dynamical integration/segregation balance during anesthesia-induced loss of

consciousness

Uncheol Lee, PhD (University of Michigan, USA)

Control the recovery of consciousness in anesthesia by modulating brain network criticality

2:00-2:15 PM (EST)

Coffee Break

2:15-3:25 PM (EST)

Pharmacologically Altered States of Consciousness

Moderator: Charlotte Maschke, PhD candidate (McGill University)

Catherine Duclos, PhD (Université de Montréal, QC) 

Using anesthesia to modulate consciousness, and modulating consciousness in anesthesia

Miriam Han, BSc (McGill University, QC)

Brain Response to Anesthesia in Pediatric Status Epilepticus Patients

Sidath Rankaduwa, MA (Western University, ON)

The Effects of Psilocybin on Shared Experience in Film Processing

Andrea Luppi, PhD (McGill University, QC) 

Mapping Pharmacologically-induced Functional Reorganisation onto the Brain’s Neurotransmitter Landscape

3:25-4:05 PM (EST)

Theories of Consciousness

Moderator: Stefanie Blain-Moraes, PhD (McGill University)

Kira Dolhan, BSc (McGill University, QC)

Being Conscientious about Consciousness: Three Fundamental Assumptions Frequently Taken for Granted in the Scientific Study of Consciousness

Lukasz Kurowski, PhD (Centennial College, ON)

The “real” is no different from the “hard”