Abstract

Intrinsic dynamics of neuronal circuits shape information processing. Combining neuroimaging with causal perturbation offers the opportunity to understand how local dynamics mediate the link between neurobiology and functional repertoire. We compile a unique dataset of multi-scale neural activity during wakefulness and anaesthetic-induced suppression of information processing encompassing human, macaque, marmoset, mouse and nematode. Applying massive feature extraction, we comprehensively characterise local neural dynamics across >6,000 time-series features. Using dynamics as a common space for cross-species comparison reveals a phylogenetically conserved dynamical profile of anaesthesia, characterised by reduced intrinsic timescales and dampened inter-regional synchrony, confirmed by computational modelling. Spatially, this profile covaries with conserved transcriptional profiles of neurotransmission across human, macaque and mouse cortex. This dynamical regime is experimentally reversed in vivo by deep-brain stimulation of the macaque centromedian thalamus, restoring behavioural responsiveness. Altogether, comprehensive dynamical phenotyping reveals that across species and scales, anaesthetics induce spatiotemporal isolation of local neural activity.