Dr. Lorina Naci
Assistant Professor, Psychology
Assistant Professor, Trinity Inst. of Neurosciences (TCIN)
Biography
Lorina Naci is Assistant Professor and leader of the 'Consciousness and Cognition' group at the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and Global brain Health Institute at Trinity College Dublin. She received her PhD from the University of Cambridge as a International Cooke Fellow. In 2017, she received the L'Oréal - UNESCO International Rising Talent Award. Her work focuses on developing novel biomarkers of healthy and disordered cognition in brain-injured and ageing populations, including individuals with early Alzheimer's dementia. Her work has made ground-breaking contributions to the understanding of cognition and consciousness for individuals with severely limited motoric output, such as severely brain-injured, anaesthetised or advanced Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. For example, she has used neuroimaging to understand how consciousness emerges from the healthy brain and to detect conscious awareness in some severely brain-injured patients, who are clinically diagnosed to be in a vegetative state. Her recent work has enabled some of these individuals to communicate their thoughts to the outside world. Concurrently, she explores the medico-ethical and societal implications of these applications. Her research has been published in high-impact scientific journals and covered widely in the international media. She holds a L'Oréal for Women in Science Research Excellence Fellowship, and in 2017 received the L'Oréal Foundation France and UNESCO International Rising Talent Award. Professor Naci serves as a member of the Governing Board of the Global Brain Health Institute, at Trinity College Dublin and University of California San Francisco, USA. She is funded by the Wellcome Trust, the Irish Research Council, and Enterprise Ireland.
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Coulborn S, Taylor C, Naci L, Owen A, and Fernández-Espejo D., Disruptions in effective connectivity within and between default mode network and anterior forebrain mesocircuit in disorders of consciousness. , The Brain Conference, 2021
Fogel S., Ray L., Fang Z., Silverbrook M., Naci L., Owen A., While you were sleeping: Evidence for high-level processing of an auditory narrative during sleep., Current Biology, 2021
Coulborn S., Taylor C., Naci L., Owen A., Fernández-Espejo D. , Disruptions in effective connectivity within and between default mode network and anterior forebrain mesocircuit in prolonged disorders of consciousness., Brain Sciences, 2021
Deng F, Naci L. , Cognition alterations of subjects at increased risk of dementia., Organization for Human Brain Mapping., 2021
Luppi AI, Mediano PAM, Rosas FE, Allanson J, Pickard JD, Carhart-Harris RL, Williams GB, Craig MM, Finoia P, Owen AM, Naci L, Menon DK, Bor D, Stamatakis EA., A Synergistic Workspace for Human Consciousness Revealed by Integrated Information Decomposition., The Brain Conference., 2021
Hu H., Cusack R, Naci L., The development of brain circuitry for conscious awareness in infancy. , Organization for the Human Brain Mapping., 2021
Luppi AI, Mediano PAM, Rosas FE, Allanson J, Pickard JD, Carhart-Harris RL, Williams GB, Craig MM, Finoia P, Owen A, Naci L, Menon D, Bor D, Stamatakis EA. , A Synergistic Workspace for Human Consciousness Revealed by Integrated Information Decomposition., Neuron, 2020
Deng F, Stewart E, Naci L. , Sex disparities in effect of ageing on brain network integrity across the lifespan., Neuromatch Conference., Virtual, October 2020, 2020
Coppola P, Spindler LRB, Adapa R, Finoia P, Williams GB, Allanson J, Pickard JD, Owen AM, Naci L, Menon DK, Stamatakis EA., Network dynamics scale with levels of awareness., Science Advances., 2020
Deng F, Stewart E, Naci L. , Sex disparities in effect of ageing on brain network integrity across the lifespan., Cognitive Neuroscience Society, Virtual., May 2020., 2020
Mackenzie G, Naci L., Subjective and evaluative well-being: improving prognostic assessment after severe brain injury., Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics., 2020
Hu H, Cusack R, Naci L., The development of brain circuitry supporting conscious awareness in infancy., Neuromatch Conference., Virtual., October 2020, 2020
Huntley J, Fleming SM, Mograbi DC, Bor D, Naci L, Owen AM, Howard R., Alzheimer's disease as a disorder of consciousness. , Alzheimer's and Dementia., 2020
Taylor N, Graham M, Delargy M, Naci L, Revealing memory during the vegetative state: implications for patient quality of life, Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 29, ("Clinical Neuroethic), 2020, p501 - 510
Varley T, Luppi A, Pappas I, Naci L, Adapa R, Owen AO, Menon D, Stamatakis E., Consciousness and Brain Functional Complexity in Propofol Anaesthesia, Scientific Reports , 2020
Deng F, Taylor N, Owen AM, Cusack R, Naci L, The brain-bases of responsiveness variability under moderate anaesthesia, Neuroimage , 2020
Kandeepana S, Rudasb J, Gomez F, Stojanoski B, Valluria S, Owen AM, Naci L, Nichols ES, Soddu A, Modeling an auditory stimulated brain under altered states of consciousness using the generalized ising model, NeuroImage, 223, 2020
Luppi AI, Craig MM, Pappas I, Finoia P, Williams GB, Allanson J, Pickard JD, Owen AM, Naci L, Menon DK, Stamatakis EA. , Consciousness-specific interactions of neural complexity and integration - a spatial and temporal perspective., Nature Communications, 10, (4616), 2019, px-x
Graham M, Wallace E, Doherty C, McCann A, Naci L, Awareness to Prognosis: Ethical Implications of Assessing Covert Consciousness After Severe Brain Injury, Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 28, (Special Issue 4), 2019
Tung J, Peterson A, Mackenzie G, Naci L, Speechley K, Weijer C, Towards the assessment of quality of life in patients with disorders of consciousness, Quality of Life Research, 2019
Graham, M., Doherty, C., & Naci, L, Using neuroimaging to detect covert awareness and determine prognosis of comatose patients: informing surrogate decision-makers of individual patient results., Seminars in Neurology, 38, (5), 2018, p555-560
Haugg A., Cusack R., Gonzales-Lara L., Sorger B., Owen A.M., Naci L., Do patients thought to lack consciousness retain the capacity for internal as well external awareness?, Frontiers in Neurology, 2018
Irwin K, Sexton C, Daniel T, Lawlor B, Naci L, Healthy Aging and Dementia: Two Roads Diverging in Midlife? Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience , 2018
Naci, Lorina and Haugg, Amelie and MacDonald, Alex and Anello, Mimma and Houldin, Evan and Naqshbandi, Shakib and Gonzalez-Lara, Laura E and Arango, Miguel and Harle, Christopher and Cusack, Rhodri and Owen, Adrian M, Functional diversity of brain networks supports consciousness and verbal intelligence, Scientific Reports , 2018
Abdalmalak, Androu and Milej, Daniel and Diop, Mamadou and Shokouhi, Mahsa and Naci, Lorina and Owen, Adrian M and St Lawrence, Keith, Can time-resolved NIRS provide the sensitivity to detect brain activity during motor imagery consistently?, Biomedical optics express, 8, (4), 2017, p2162â"2172
Gibson, R. M., Chennu, S., Fernández-Espejo, D., Naci. L., Owen, A. M, Cruse, D. , Reply to "Is command following unrelated to top-down attention in consciousness disorders?" , Annals of Neurology, 81, (1), 2017, p160-161
Graham, Mackenzie and Owen, Adrian M and à ipi, Kaman and Weijer, Charles and Naci, Lorina, Minimizing the Harm of Accidental Awareness Under General Anesthesia: New Perspectives From Patients Misdiagnosed as Being in a Vegetative State, Anesthesia and analgesia, 2017
Sinai, Leah and Owen, Adrian M and Naci, Lorina, Mapping preserved real-world cognition in severely brain-injured patients, Frontiers in bioscience (Landmark edition), 22, 2017, p815â"823
Naci, Lorina and Sinai, Leah and Owen, Adrian M, Detecting and interpreting conscious experiences in behaviorally non-responsive patients, NeuroImage, 145, (Pt B), 2017, p304 - 313
Naci, Lorina and Graham, Mackenzie and Owen, Adrian M and Weijer, Charles, Covert narrative capacity: Mental life in patients thought to lack consciousness, Annals of clinical and translational neurology, 4, (1), 2017, p61â"70
Abdalmalak A, Milej D, Diop M, Naci L, Owen AM, Lawrence KSt., Assessing the feasibility of time-resolved fNIRS to detect brain activity during motor imagery., 2016
Haugg A, Cusack R, Sorger B, Owen AM, Naci L., A comparison of fMRI-based functional connectivity during resting-state and naturalistic stimulation., Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience., Toronto, Canada, 2016
Naci L, Cusack R, Macdonald A, Anello M, Arango M, Harle C, Owen AM., Assessing consciousness in anesthetized individuals., Organization for Human Brain Mapping., Geneva, Switzerland, 2016
Haugg A, Cusack R, Sorger B, Owen AM, Naci L., The functional connectivity of conscious information processing during movie watching., Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness., Buenos Aires, Argentina., 2016
Gibson, Raechelle M and Chennu, Srivas and Fernández-Espejo, Davinia and Naci, Lorina and Owen, Adrian M and Cruse, Damian, Somatosensory attention identifies both overt and covert awareness in disorders of consciousness, Annals of neurology, 80, (3), 2016, p412â"423
Graham, M., Weijer, C., Cruse, D.,Fernandez-Espejo, D., Gofton, T., Gonzalez-Lara, L., Lazosky, A., Naci, L., Norton, L., Peterson, A., Speechley, N. K., Young,B., Owen, M. A., An Ethics of Welfare for Behaviourally Non-responsive Patients with Covert Awareness, American Journal of Bioethics: Neuroscience, 6, (2), 2015, p31-41
MacDonald, Alex A and Naci, Lorina and MacDonald, Penny A and Owen, Adrian M, Anesthesia and neuroimaging: investigating the neural correlates of unconsciousness, Trends in cognitive sciences, 19, (2), 2015, p100â"107
Peterson, Andrew and Cruse, Damian and Naci, Lorina and Weijer, Charles and Owen, Adrian M, Risk, diagnostic error, and the clinical science of consciousness, NeuroImage. Clinical, 7, 2015, p588â"597
Graham, Mackenzie and Weijer, Charles and Peterson, Andrew and Naci, Lorina and Cruse, Damian and Fernández-Espejo, Davinia and Gonzalez-Lara, Laura and Owen, Adrian M, Acknowledging awareness: informing families of individual research results for patients in the vegetative state, Journal of medical ethics, 41, (7), 2015, p534â"538
Sinai, L., Cusack, R., Owen, A. M., Naci. L., Probing conscious experience of rich naturalistic stimuli., Lake Ontario Visionary Establishment., 5th-6th Feb 2015, 2015
Naci L, Houldin E, Cusack R, Arango M, Harle C, Owen M A., Processing of complex, real world information as awareness fades under sedation., Society for Neuroscience., Chicago, USA., October 2015., 2015
Horn, A., Naci L., Weijer C., & Owen, A. M., The master of suspense: using movies and fMRI to decode the phenomenology of conscious experience in vegetative state patients., Montreal Neuroethics Conference for Young Researchers., Montreal, Quebec, Canada., April 2015, 2015
Naci L, Annello M, MacDonald A, Naqshbandi S, Arango M, Harle C, Owen AM., The cognitive response to complex naturalistic stimuli in states of incremental sedation., Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness., Paris, France., June 2015, 2015
Sinai L, Cusack R, Fiaconni C, Gonzalez L, Owen AM, Naci L., Probing the conscious experience of rich auditory stimuli., Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness., Paris, France., June 2015, 2015
Horn A., Naci L., Weijer C., & Owen A. M., Decoding phenomenal experience in vegetative state patients., Annual Meeting for the Canadian Association for Neuroscience., Vancouver, Canada., May 2015, 2015
Naci, L., Cusack, R., Anello, M., Owen, A. M., Decoding the contents of conscious awareness from brain activity., Organization for Human Brain Mapping Annual Meeting., Hawaii, USA., June 2015, 2015
Weijer C, Graham M, Peterson A, Naci L, Cruse D, Fernandez-Espejo D, Gonzalez-Lara L, Owen AM., Acknowledging awareness: informing families of individual research results for patients in the vegetative state., Canadian Bioethics Society, Vancouver, Canada., 29th May 2014, 2014
Naci, Lorina and Cusack, Rhodri and Anello, Mimma and Owen, Adrian M, A common neural code for similar conscious experiences in different individuals, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111, (39), 2014, p14277â"14282
M Graham, C Weijer, D Cruse, D Fernandez-Espejo, L Gonzalez-Lara, L Naci, A Peterson, K Speechley, AM Owen. , Evaluating subjective well-being in patients diagnosed as vegetative, with covert awareness., International Neuroethics Society Annual Meeting., Washington, USA., 14th November 2014, 2014
Norton L, Naci L, Fernandez Espejo D, Young GB, Gofton T, Al Thenayan E, Owen AM., Can you hear me? Assessing Language Processing and Awareness in Comatose Patients using fMRI., London Research Day. , London, Canada, 2014
Peterson, Andrew and Norton, Loretta and Naci, Lorina and Owen, Adrian M and Weijer, Charles, Toward a science of brain death, The American journal of bioethics : AJOB, 14, (8), 2014, p29â"31
Weijer, Charles and Peterson, Andrew and Webster, Fiona and Graham, Mackenzie and Cruse, Damian and Fernández-Espejo, Davinia and Gofton, Teneille and Gonzalez-Lara, Laura E and Lazosky, Andrea and Naci, Lorina and Norton, Loretta and Speechley, Kathy and Young, Bryan and Owen, Adrian M, Ethics of neuroimaging after serious brain injury, BMC medical ethics, 15, 2014, p41
Weijer C, Peterson A, Naci L, Graham M, Cruse D, Fernandez- Espejo D, Lazosky A, and Owen AM. , Why discussion of end-of-life decisions through brain computer interfaces starts the ethical debate off on the wrong foot. , Brain Matters 4: Brain Science and Social Responsibility., Vancouver, Canada., March 2014, 2014
Graham M, Weijer C, Peterson A, Naci L, Fernandez-Espejo D, Cruse D, Lazosky A, Gonzalez-Lara L, and Owen AM. , Communication with patients diagnosed with disorders of consciousness, and the moral significance of sentience., Canadian Bioethics Society, Vancouver, Canada., 29th May 2014, 2014
Naci, L., Cusack, R., & Owen, A., A New fMRI Approach For Establishing Conscious Awareness And Communication In Behaviourally Nonresponsive Patients. , Journal of Neurotrauma , Vol. 31, (No. 5), 2014, ppA68 - A68
Peterson A, Naci L, Weijer C, Benmordecai D, Cruse D, Fernandez-Espejo D, Gofton T, Gonzalez-Lara L, Lazosky A, Norton L, Speechley K, Young B, Owen AM., Is it possible assess decision making capacity in the disorders of consciousness patient?, Canadian Bioethics Society, Vancouver, Canada., 29th May 2014, 2014
A Peterson, D Cruse, L Naci, D Fernandez-Espejo, T Bruni, C Weijer, AM Owen., A framework for comparing neuroimaging techniques used to assess disorders of consciousness., International Neuroethics Society Annual Meeting., Washington, USA., 14th November 2014, 2014
Naci, Lorina and Owen, Adrian M, Making every word count for nonresponsive patients, JAMA neurology, 70, (10), 2013, p1235â"1241
Peterson A, Cruse D, Naci L, Fernández-Espejo D, Graham M, Lazosky A, Weijer C, Owen AM. , Ethical challenges in deriving the clinical utility of EEG for diagnosis of the vegetative state., International Neuroethics Society Annual Conference., San Diego, CA, USA., November 2013, 2013
Naci, Lorina and Cusack, Rhodri and Jia, Vivian Z and Owen, Adrian M, The brain's silent messenger: using selective attention to decode human thought for brain-based communication, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 33, (22), 2013, p9385â"9393
Peterson, A., Naci, L., Weijer, C., Owen, A., A principled argument, but not a practical one, American Journal of Bioethics: Neuroscience, 4, (1), 2013, p52 - 53
Norton L, Fernández Espejo D, Naci L, Young GB, Gofton T, Owen AM., Innovative Prognostic Testing of Comatose Patients using fMRI., Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness. , San Diego, CA, USA., 2013
Peterson, A., Naci, L., Cruse, C., Fernández-Espejo, E., Graham, M., Weijer, C., Owen, A. O., Assessing decision making capacity in the behaviourally nonreponsive patient with residual covert awareness, American Journal of Bioethics: Neuroscience, 4, (4), 2012, p3-14
Naci, Lorina and Taylor, Kirsten I and Cusack, Rhodri and Tyler, Lorraine K, Are the senses enough for sense? Early high-level feedback shapes our comprehension of multisensory objects, Frontiers in integrative neuroscience, 6, 2012, p82
Naci, L., Cusack, R., Zia, V. Z., Owen, A. M., Making every word count: intuitive and robust communication without a behavioural response., Human Brain Mapping., Beijing, China, 2012
Cusack, Rhodri and Veldsman, Michele and Naci, Lorina and Mitchell, Daniel J and Linke, Annika C, Seeing different objects in different ways: measuring ventral visual tuning to sensory and semantic features with dynamically adaptive imaging, Human brain mapping, 33, (2), 2012, p387â"397
Graham, M., White, A., Peterson, A., Naci, L., Cruse, L., Fernández-Espejo, D., Weijer, C., Owen. A. M. , Investigators' ethical obligations to patients' families in disorders of consciousness research. , Brain Matters 3: Values at the Crossroads of Neurology, Psychiatry, and Psychology., Cleveland USA, 2012
Naci, Lorina and Monti, Martin M and Cruse, Damian and KÃŒbler, Andrea and Sorger, Bettina and Goebel, Rainer and Kotchoubey, Boris and Owen, Adrian M, Brain-computer interfaces for communication with nonresponsive patients, Annals of neurology, 72, (3), 2012, p312â"323
Peterson, A., Naci, L., Cruse, D., FernándezEspejo, D., Graham, M., White, A., Weijer, C., Owen, A. M., Ethical implications of detecting awareness in disorders of consciousness: Question asking through a binary interface. , Brain Matters 3: Values at the Crossroads of Neurology, Psychiatry, and Psychology, Cleaveland, USA, 2012
Naci, L., Linke, A., Vicente-Grabovetsky, S., Gaudrain, E., Owen, A. M., Cusack, R., Using multi-voxel pattern analysis to decode the targets of auditory selective attention and imagery. , ICON, Palma de Mallorca, Spain, 2011
Veldsman, M., Cusack, R., Naci, L., Mitchell, D. J. , Characterising neural tuning to naturalistic objects with Dynamically Adaptive Imaging., Human Brain Mapping, Barcelona, Spain., 2010
Naci, L., Cusack, R, Henson, R., Tyler, L. K. , Adaptive coding of object representation in anterior temporal, but not occipito-temporal regions. , Human Brain Mapping., Barcelona, Spain., 2010
Cusack, R., Veldsman, M., Naci, L., Mitchell, D., J, Linke, A. , Rapidly characterizing multidimensional neural tuning to sensory and semantic features of real-world objects using Dynamically Adaptive Imaging. , Cognitive Neuroscience Society, Montreal, Canada, 2010
Naci, L., Henson, R., Taylor, K., Tyler, L. K. , The development of meaning with incremental object awareness: an efMRI study of stages of visual object processing. , Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, USA, 2008
Naci, L., Pulvermuller, F., Taylor, K., Shtyrov, Y., Hauk, O., & Tyler, L. K. , Spatiotemporal patterns of cross-modal integration., Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18, Suppl. E22., 2006
Covington, M., Congzhou, H., Brown, C., Naci, L., Brown, J. , How complex is that sentence? A proposed revision of the Rosenberg and Abbeduto D-Level Scale, Computer Analysis of Speech for Psychological Research, University of Georgia, 2006
Covington, Michael A and He, Congzhou and Brown, Cati and Naci, Lorina and McClain, Jonathan T and Fjordbak, Bess Sirmon and Semple, James and Brown, John, Schizophrenia and the structure of language: the linguist's view, Schizophrenia research, 77, (1), 2005, p85â"98
Naci, L., Propositional Attitude Reports and Mental Representations., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Postgraduate Conference in Language Research Proceedings, 2003
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Lorina Naci, Preservation of cognition and awareness after severe brain injury: Implications for prognosis., Virtual., November, 2020, Cambridge Neurological Society
Lorina Naci, Using neuroimaging to understand early neurocognitive impairments in asymptomatic midlife individuals at high risk for later life dementia., PREVENT Consortium Neuroimaging Yearly Symposium., Virtual presentation., June, 2020
Lorina Naci, Real-world cognition in disorders of consciousness., Chaucer Club, Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge., Cambridge UK, May, 2019
Lorina Naci, Multimodal Investigation of Biomarkers of early Alzheimer's Disease in Mid-life., Dublin, Ireland., November, 2019, Global Brain Health Institute.
Lorina Naci, Using Narratives to Understand Human Conscious Experience., Guest Lecture at the Division of Anesthesia, Addenbrookes Hospital University of Cambridge., Cambridge UK, February, 2018
Lorina Naci, fMRI brain mapping in patients with prolonged disorders of consciousness., Invited speaker at the 21st European Congress of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine., Lithuania, May, 2018
Lorina Naci, A cross-section of the preserved mental life in patients thought to lack consciousness., Neuroethics Network Meeting, Paris, France., June, 2018, ICM, The Brain and Spine Institute, Paris.
Lorina Naci, Narratives Facilitate Shared Conscious Experience., Long Room Hub, Faculty of Arts, Sciences and Humanities., Trinity College Dublin., May, 2018
Lorina Naci, Exploring Consciousness in Severely Brain Injured Non-responsive Patients., What is Life, Consciousness Symposium., Trinity College Dublin., September, 2018
Lorina Naci, Functional diversity of brain networks supports consciousness and intelligence., Oliver Zangwill Lecture., Cambridge UK, February, 2018, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge.
Lorina Naci, Detecting preserved consciousness and communicating with severely brain-injured patients misdiagnosed to be in a vegetative state. , National Rehabilitation Hospital, Dublin., 12th October, 2017
Lorina Naci, Advanced neuroimaging in the treatment and rehabilitation of concussion., St James' Hospital, Dublin, May, 2017
Lorina Naci, The Development of Cross-disciplinary Neurohumanities Initiatives at Trinity College Dublin., National Institutional Strategic Support Fund, Public Patient Involvement Meeting., University College Dublin, October, 2017
Lorina Naci, The neural machinery of conscious cognition: Converging evidence from anesthesia-induced unconsciousness, severe brain injury and intellectual prowess. , Organization for Human Brain Mapping., Vancouver, Canada., June, 2017
Lorina Naci, Preserved real-world cognition and consciousness in non-responsive patients., Brain Health Network Seminar., Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Dublin., June, 2017, Trinity College & Global Brain Health Institute.
Lorina Naci, Gender equity in Leadership., Point Reyes, California, USA., October, 2017
Lorina Naci, Using Naturalistic Stimulation fMRI for Diagnosis and Prognosis in Clinical Populations., Northern Ireland, UK., 13th December, 2017, Queens University Belfast.
Decoding thoughts in behaviourally non-responsive patients. in, editor(s)Walter Sinnott-Armstrong , Finding Consciousness, Oxford University Press, 2016, [Naci, L. ]
Lorina Naci, State-of-the-art neuroimaging techniques for assessing and communicating with severely brain-injured persons., San Francisco, USA, March, 2016, American Philosophical Association.
Lorina Naci, Real-world cognition in the healthy and disordered brain., Cambridge UK, May, 2016, Cambridge Centre of Aging and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge.
Decoding thoughts in disorders of consciousness in, editor(s)M. Monti and W. G. Sannita , Brain Function and Responsiveness in Severe Disorders of Consciousness., Springer, 2016, pp67-80 , [Owen, A. and Naci, L.]
Lorina Naci, The functional neuroimaging of conscious information processing., Geneva, Switzerland, 1st July, 2016, University of Geneva.
Lorina Naci, Detecting conscious experiences in patients with disordered consciousness., London, Canada, January, 2015, The Brain and Mind Institute.
Lorina Naci, Detecting and interpreting conscious experiences in behaviorally non-responsive populations., Towards a Science of Consciousness., Helsinki, Finland., June, 2015
Lorina Naci, Using anesthesia-induced loss of consciousness to identify biomarkers of conscious awareness in the healthy human brain., London, Canada, March, 2015, Rotman Institute of Philosophy.
Lorina Naci, Towards naturalistic approaches for detecting consciousness with neuroimaging., Paris, France., June, 2015, Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness.
Lorina Naci, A new fMRI approach for establishing conscious awareness and communication in behaviourally non-responsive patients., University Hospital Critical Care Rounds. , London, Canada, February 2014, 2014
Lorina Naci, Anesthesia-induced loss of consciousness., Skience, Collingwood, Canada, March 2014, 2014
Lorina Naci, A common neural code for similar conscious experiences in healthy and brain injured individuals., London, Canada, September, 2014, Rotman Institute of Philosophy.
Brain-Computer Interfaces for Assessment and Communication in Disorders of Consciousness in, Emerging Theory and Practice in Neuroprosthetics, IGI Global, 2014, pp181-214 , [Christoph Guger, Bettina Sorger, Quentin Noirhomme, Lorina Naci, Martin M. Monti, Ruben Real, Christoph Pokorny, Sandra Veser, Zulay Lugo, Lucia Quitadamo, Damien Lesenfants, Monica Risetti, Rita Formisano, Jlenia Toppi, Laura Astolfi, Thomas Emmerling, Lizette Heine, Helena Erlbeck, Petar Horki, Boris Kotchoubey, Luigi Bianchi, Donatella Mattia, Rainer Goebel, Adrian M. Owen, Frederic Pellas, Gernot Müller-Putz, Steven Laureys, Andrea Kübler, Febo Cincotti]
Lorina Naci, Using naturalistic paradigms to probe conscious experience., Medical Research Council - Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit. , Cambridge UK, December, 2014
Lorina Naci, Combining fMRI and psychophysiological measures to study conscious awareness in non-responsive patients., Skience, Collingwood, Canada, March 2013, 2013
Lorina Naci, Using fMRI to assess conscious awareness in patients with disorders of consciousness - practical considerations., San Diego, USA, July 2013, 2013, Society for the Scientific Study of Consciousness.
Lorina Naci, Using language for the detection of consciousness in non-responsive patients., DECODER Consortium Meeting. , Rome, Italy, March 2012, 2012
Lorina Naci, Deployment of brain-computer interfaces for the detection of consciousness in non-responsive patients. , DECODER Consortium Meeting., Brussels, Belgium., March 2011, 2011
Lorina Naci, Neural gestures to communicate with vegetative state patients., South Carolina, USA, 2010, University of South Carolina.
Lorina Naci, Are senses enough for sense?, The Cognitive Neuroscience Society Meeting, San Francisco, USA, April 2008, 2008
Lorina Naci, Recurrent bottom-up and top-down interactions during multi-sensory object processing., New York City, USA, 2007, The Cognitive Neuroscience Society.
Lorina Naci, Multi-sensory integration., Experimental Psychology Society Annual Meeting, Edinburgh, UK , June 2007, 2007
Lorina Naci, Understanding objects: are the senses enough for sense?, Behavioural Neuroscience Seminars, Cambridge UK, 2007, University of Cambridge
Research Expertise
Description
My work has made ground-breaking contributions to the understanding of cognition and consciousness for individuals with severely limited motoric output, such as severely brain-injured, anaesthetised or advanced Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. I was the first to develop an auditory attention brain-computer interface (Naci etal., Annals of Neurology 2012, Impact Factor [IF 9.8], 118 citations) and demonstrated that a patient, who was clinically diagnosed as 'vegetative state' for 12 years, could correctly answer multiple questions by simply by attending to the word 'yes' or 'no' (Naci etal., Jama Neurology 2013 [IF 10], 127 citations). Subsequently, I was the first to show that complex cognition in response to everyday events, could be decoded in single healthy individuals from their brain activity (Naci etal., PNAS 2014 [IF 9.7], 121 citations), and demonstrated that a patient, clinically diagnosed as 'vegetative state' for 16 years, could follow real-world events and feel emotion from moment to moment, similarly to every healthy individual. This work can directly improve the diagnostic accuracy to reduce the alarmingly high rates of misdiagnosis (~43%), and inform medical decision-making for these vulnerable patients (Peterson etal., Neuroimage: Clinical 2015 [IF 4], 74 citations). This translational work builds on my basic science studies on the brain mechanisms of conscious cognition (Naci etal., Scientific Reports 2018 [IF 4], 7 citations; NeuroImage 2017 [IF 5.8], citations 39; Trends in Cognitive Science 2015 [IF 15.4], 47 citations; Journal of Neuroscience 2013 [IF 6], 70 citations). I am currently extending this work from the chronic patient population to acutely brain-injured patients in coma. Patient outcome after coma is highly variable (40% pass away) and there is currently no clinical tool that can assess whether any individual patient will recover or not. This prognostic uncertainty frequently biases medical decisions towards withdrawing life-sustaining therapies very early, within the first 72 hours post injury. My previous work suggests that this is a mistake. One of my group's current aims is to convert the neuroimaging markers we have developed to portable and inexpensive technologies that can be easily applied at the bedside, to facilitate testing of vulnerable comatose patients in the acute hospital setting. My work has set-off a cascade of ongoing collaborative studies in diverse populations where, similarly to severely brain-injured patients, behaviour is uninformative, including in anaesthesia (Luppi et al. Neuron [IF 14] under review; Deng et al., NeuroImage [IF 6] under review; Luppi etal., Nature Communications 2019 [IF 12.1], citations 11; Varley etal., Scientific Reports 2020 [IF 4], citations 11), and advanced AD (Huntley et al., Trends In Cognitive Science [IF 15.4], under review). In a multi-centre international collaboration, I am using my cutting-edge expertise to develop early biomarkers of AD in mid-life asymptomatic individuals, some 20-30 years before symptoms develop, in collaboration with colleagues at Cambridge, Oxford and Edinburgh Universities. In the face of a global dementia pandemic, it is extremely important to understand the earliest cognitive/functional changes of AD, and their underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms. This can lead to earlier diagnoses, potential targets for treatment, and better understanding of the disease itself. We are currently testing a cohort of 700 asymptomatic mid-life individuals at risk for AD with a deep-phenotyping battery, cross-sectionally and longitudinally, and are extending this work to elite rugby and football players, as well as other populations, who may accumulate early neuropathology to do heightened risk factors. This work could enable population-wide early intervention programmes that may treat and, ultimately, prevent Alzheimer's disease.Projects
- Title
- Using dynamic functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Develop Early Biomarkers of Alzheimer's Disease
- Funding Agency
- Trinity Provost Scholarship Award
- Date From
- 2018
- Date To
- 2022
- Title
- PREVENT Dementia
- Funding Agency
- Global Brain Health Institute, Ireland/USA; Trinity Foundation; PREVENT UK
- Date From
- 2017
- Date To
- 2023
- Title
- Using Neuroimaging and Portable Technologies to Develop Music Based Interventions for Brain-injured Patients
- Funding Agency
- School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin
- Date From
- 2017
- Date To
- 2022
- Title
- Portable techniques for assessing brain function in severely brain-injured patients.
- Funding Agency
- Ussher Fellowship Trinity College Dublin
- Date From
- 2021
- Date To
- 2024
- Title
- Using neuroimaging to detect covert awareness and determine prognosis of comatose patients.
- Funding Agency
- Irish Research Council Postgraduate Scholarship
- Date From
- 2019
- Date To
- 2022
- Title
- The Self-regulation of Internal and External Thought.
- Funding Agency
- Trinity-China Student Council Joint Scholarship Programme
- Date From
- 2019
- Date To
- 2023
- Title
- H2020- Preparation Support
- Funding Agency
- Enterprise Ireland
- Date From
- 2018
- Title
- Welcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund (ISSF) for International Collaborations
- Funding Agency
- Welcome Trust ISSF
- Date From
- 2017
- Date To
- 2020
- Title
- Neuroimaging and Portable Technologies for Interventions for Brain-Injured Patients
- Funding Agency
- Welcome Trust ISSF
- Date From
- 2017
- Date To
- 2022
- Title
- International Rising Talent Award
- Funding Agency
- L'Oréal Foundation, France & UNESCO
- Date From
- 2017
- Date To
- 2019
- Title
- Changing Dementia Narratives/Stigma Through Art
- Funding Agency
- Global Brain Health Institute Project Grant
- Date From
- 2018
- Date To
- 2020
Recognition
Representations
Reviewer for the Alzheimer's Association "Pilot Awards for Global Brain Health Leaders program"
Member of the Neuroimaging Group of the Neonatal and Children's Hospital Brain Consortium Ireland
Representative of Ireland at the European Union COST Action Grant, titled "The neural architecture of consciousness"
Member of review panel for the "International Graduate Awards to Oxford and Cambridge Universities, UK", from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation (USA)
Scientific Advisor for NeuroBlot Inc. , personalized app-based cognitive screening
Scientific Reviewer for Brain-Computer Interface 7th International Meeting, California, USA
External Reviewer for PhD thesis of Michael Craig, at the University of Cambridge
Scientific Reviewer for The Organization for Human Brain Mapping Annual Meeting
Scientific Reporter for the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
External Reviewer for the MSc Thesis for the BioSciences Master program at Ens de Lyon, France
Reporter for the EU Decoder Grant, University of Maastricht
Regular ad-hoc reviewer for over 50 international journals including: PNAS, Journal of Consciousness Studies, Intensive Care Medicine, Journal of the Neurological Sciences, New England Journal of Medicine, Brain, Annals of Neurology, BMC Neurology, Cerebral Cortex, Journal of Experimental Psychology, NeuroImage, AJOB Empirical Bioethics, Scientific Reports.
Awards and Honours
Featured on Wikipedia by the Permanent Canadian Mission to UNESCO
Selected for the "Women in Science Leadership" meeting in Kigali Rwanda, by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
L'Oréal-Unesco for Women In Science International Rising Talents Award
Academic Achievement Award, Albanian Canadian Excellence Award, Canada
L'Oréal for Women in Science Research Excellence Fellowship, with the support of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO
Selected for the Women in Science Leadership workshop, in Banff Canada, by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.
Postdoctoral Scholar of the Year, Western University, Canada.
Distinguished Person of the Year, Albanian Diaspora of Canada, Canada.
One of Best 51 Discoveries Since 1878, Western University, Canada.
Graduate Fellowship ($300,000; 3% success rate), Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, USA
Travel Grant Award ($1500), Brain (the Journal), UK.
Marie Curie Trainee Award ($10,000), Marie Curie School for Neuroscience, Italy.
Clare College Graduate Student Grant (£1,000), Clare College, University of Cambridge, UK
Grindley Research Grant (£2,000), Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, UK.
Cambridge Philosophical Society Travel Grant (£500), University of Cambridge, UK.
Graduate Presentation Award (2% success), Cognitive Neuroscience Society, USA.
Travel Fellowship Award ($750), Organization for Human Brain Mapping, USA
Grindley Travel Grant (£800), Experimental Psychology Society, UK.
Chibnall Travel Grant (£1,000), Clare College, University of Cambridge, UK.
Richard B. Russell Leadership Fellow, University of Georgia (UGA), USA.
MSc Research Award ($50,000), GlaxoSmithKline Inc., UK
All-Americal Scholar Collegiate Award, University of Georgia, USA.
Presidential Scholar, University of Georgia, USA
Phi Beta Kappa Honour Society, University of Georgia, USA.
Foundation Fellowship Award ($100,000; 0.5% success rate), UGA, USA.
Memberships
Member of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness
Member of the Organisation for Human Brain Mapping
Member of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society
Member of the Society for Neuroscience