Altered States of Consciousness Across Health and Disease

The theme of this year’s GRS is “Altered States of Consciousness Across Health and Disease”. Altered states of consciousness are states that differ from normal waking consciousness. These states can be induced physiologically (e.g., sleep, dreaming), pharmacologically (e.g., psychedelics, anesthetics), or pathologically (e.g., epilepsy, traumatic brain injury). Elucidating the phenomenology, dynamics, and neurobiological mechanisms underlying these altered states—and the extent to which they converge—is crucial for gaining insights into the nature and mechanisms of consciousness.

As such, this conference will provide a cross-domain overview of altered states of consciousness across health and disease: sleep and dreaming, psychedelic experiences, anesthesia, and disorders of consciousness. We will address questions such as: How do arousal and awareness change across different sleep stages (including, but not limited to, dreaming)? What are common neurophysiological mechanisms that anesthetics capitalize on to induce unconsciousness? How can different pathological events, such as epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, and stroke, impact our level and contents of consciousness? How and why do different psychedelic substances lead to altered states of consciousness? And, can they be used for therapeutic purposes? How does consciousness vary across different species? We will address these questions from an interdisciplinary perspective combining neuroscience, neurology, pharmacology, psychology, and evolutionary biology. We hope that this exploration will significantly contribute to a deeper understanding of these phenomena and of consciousness in general.

The goal of this meeting is to include and welcome early career researchers from all backgrounds and life stages. Parenting accommodations (e.g., child-care options, lactation room) will be available at this venue (see venue information above); disabilities and dietary needs will also be accommodated; pronoun stickers will be made available to all attendees. Please mention if you have any additional suggestions in the Special Needs section of the registration page following acceptance. We strongly encourage eligible applicants to apply for the “Carl Storm Underrepresented Minority Fellowship,” and we will be nominating eligible attendees to the “International Diversity” and “Predominantly Undergraduate Institution” fellowships. We are looking forward to a very exciting and fruitful conference!