Thomas Varley - Criticality, Complexity, & Consciousness

Criticality and complexity in brain dynamics are proposed as foundational frameworks for understanding conscious states. As the brain reaches a critical point between organized and disordered phases, complex dynamics such as scale-free patterns emerge, enabling enhanced information integration within neural networks. Psychedelic states, often characterized by subjective shifts in consciousness, appear to map onto this increased state of criticality as reflected in higher fractal dimension and improved complexity metrics in neuroimaging. By integrating complex-systems theories and network analysis, this perspective provides a path toward mapping the brain's information processing across multiple structural and functional scales during altered states.