Gustavo Deco

Gustavo Deco

Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Engineering Sciences

Gustavo Deco is Research Professor at ICREA and Professor (Catedrático) at the Pompeu Fabra University where he leads the Computational Neuroscience group. He is Director of the Center of Brain and Cognition (UPF). In 1987 he received his PhD in Physics for his thesis on Relativistic Atomic Collisions. In 1987, he was a postdoc at the University of Bordeaux in France. From 1988 to 1990, he was postdoc of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at the University of Giessen in Germany. From 1990 to 2003, he lead the Computational Neuroscience Group at Siemens Corporate Research Center in Munich, Germany. He obtained in 1997 his Habilitation (maximal academical degree in Germany) in Computer Science (Dr. rer. nat. habil.) at the Technical University of Munich for his thesis on Neural Learning. In 2001, he received his PhD in Psychology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich. He was awarded an ERC Advanced Grant.


Research interests

Perceptions, memories, emotions, and everything that makes us human, demand the flexible integration of information represented and computed in a distributed manner. Normal brain functions require the integration of functionally specialized but widely distributed brain areas. The main aim of my research is to elucidate precisely the computational principles underlying higher brain functions and their breakdown in brain diseases. My research allows us to comprehend the mechanisms underlying brain functions by complementing structural and activation based analyses with dynamics. We integrate different levels of experimental investigation in cognitive neuroscience (from the operation of single neurons and neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neuroimaging and neuropsychology to behaviour) via a unifying theoretical framework that captures the neural dynamics inherent in the computation of cognitive processes.

Selected publications

- Kringelbach ML, Cruzat J, Cabral J, KnudsenGM, Carhart-Harris R, Whybrow PC, Logothetis NK & Deco G 2020, 'Dynamic coupling of whole-brain neuronal and neurotransmitter systems', PNAS USA, 117, 17, 9566 - 9576.

- Kringelbach M & Deco G 2020, 'Brain States and Transitions: Insights from Computational Neuroscience', Cell Reports, 32, 10, 108128.

- Ponce-Alvarez A, Mochol G, Hermoso-Mendizabal A, de la Rocha J & Deco G 2020, 'Cortical state transitions and stimulus response evolve along stiff and sloppy parameter dimensions, respectively', Elife, 9, e53268.

- Deco G & Kringelbach M 2020, 'Turbulence-like dynamics in the human brain'. Cell Reports, 33, 108471. 

- Atasoy S, Deco G & Kringelbach M 2020, 'Harmonic waves as the fundamental principle underlying temporo-spatial dynamics of brain and mind Comment on "Is temporo-spatial dynamics the "common currency" of brain and mind? In Quest of "Spatiotemporal Neuroscience"" Georg Northoff et al.', Physics Of Life Reviews, 33, 67 - 69.

- Martinez Alonso S, Marsman  J-B C, Kringelbach M, Deco G & Ter Horst GJ2020, 'Reduced spatiotemporal brain dynamics are associated with increased depressive symptoms after a relationship breakup', Neuroimage. Clinical, 27, 102299.

- Padilla N, Saenger VM, van Hartevelt TJ, Fernandes HM, Lennartsson F, Andersson JLR, Kringelbach M, Deco G & Aden U 2020, 'Breakdown of Whole-brain Dynamics in Preterm-born Children', Cerebral Cortex, 30, 3, 1159 - 1170.

- Vila-Vidal M, Capouskova K, Atasoy S, Kringelbach M & Deco G 2020, 'Uncovering the spatiotemporal scales of common neuro-mental constructs Comment on "Is temporo-spatial dynamics the 'common currency' of brain and mind? In Quest of 'Spatiotemporal Neuroscience'" by Georg Northoff et al.', Physics Of Life Reviews, 33, 64 - 66.

- Sahoo B, Pathak A, Deco G, Banerjee A & Roy D 2020, 'Lifespan associated global patterns of coherent neural communication.', Neuroimage, 216, 116824 - 116824.