Whole-brain modelling Cartography of the Dynamics of Mind

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

Whole-brain modelling provides a comprehensive overview of sophisticated whole-brain models able to capture the underlying mechanisms of brain dynamics, which are fundamental to gain a full understanding of the cartography of the dynamics of mind. The book is written for an audience of students and scholars coming from fields such as neuroscience, psychology, biology, physics, mathematics, engineering and medical science. Importantly, the book is written such that the necessary advanced maths and physics are easily accessible.

Deco and Kringelbach provide all the key elements for understanding how these powerful computer models can accurately reproduce human brain activity in silico as measured through a combination of many different neuroimaging techniques. These computational models can be treated like animal models, where systematic lesion and stimulation allow for accurate descriptions of the precise mechanisms underlying human brain activity.

In this book, the reader will gain a deeper understanding of how the mind is shaped through hierarchical orchestration of brain dynamics. This is made possible by incorporating fundamental principles of modern physics, including stochastic thermodynamics and turbulence, which have already shed new light on the inner workings of the brain in health and disease.

Gustavo Deco, Professor, Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA) & University Pompeu Fabra,Morten L Kringelbach, Professor of Neuroscience, Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing, Linacre College; Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford UK & Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University, Denmark

Professor Gustavo Deco was the founding Director of the Center of Brain and Cognition (2001-21) and now leads the Computational Neuroscience group within the Center at the Pompeu Fabra University. He is research professor at the Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA) and holds three doctorates in physics (1987, University of Rosario), Computer Science (Habilitation 1997, Technical University of Munich) and psychology (2001, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich). His research is funded by a variety of sources including ERC Advanced Grant (2012-18) and ERC Synergy Grant (2022-28). He has published four books and over 550 scientific papers.


Professor Morten L Kringelbach is the founding director of the interdisciplinary Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing at Linacre College, University of Oxford, UK. He is also a Principal Investigator at the Center for Music in the Brain, University of Aarhus, Denmark. His prizewinning research has helped elucidate the brain systems driven by hedonic and eudaimonic stimuli such as, for example, infants, food, psychedelics and music. He has published fourteen books, and over 400 scientific papers, chapters and other articles and his research features regularly in newspapers, magazines, radio, and television.