{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"institution":[{"name":"bioRxiv"}],"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,24]],"date-time":"2026-10-24T00:32:42Z","timestamp":1792801962814,"version":"4.5.0"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,25]]},"group-title":"Neuroscience","reference-count":68,"publisher":"openRxiv","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,25]],"date-time":"2025-09-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1758758400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"award":["R01NS117150"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01NS117150"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01cwqze88","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["T32NS007280"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["T32NS007280"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01cwqze88","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"National Institutes of Health","award":["F32NS123009"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["F32NS123009"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,16]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>Absence seizures are widespread spike-and-wave oscillations disrupting consciousness. Several consciousness frameworks emphasize intercortical\/thalamocortical feedback dynamics, but we lack explicit dynamical mechanisms for how seizures disrupt these circuits. Using interpretable machine learning, we derived dynamical equations directly from seizure electrocorticogram data, reproducing seconds-long multi-regional local field potentials with precision matching inter-mouse variability. The model contained a low-dimensional chaotic seizure attractor emerging from between-region synchronization at preferred phase-lags. Unit recordings revealed corresponding spiking synchrony at single-neuron resolution, linking somatosensory and motor cortex with posterior thalamic nucleus (PO). Model coupling terms predicted tonic and burst firing spatiotemporal organization across regions and guided multisite-optogenetic stimulations. These stimulations showed PO controls corticocortical connectivity gain and that motor\/somatosensory corticocortical functional connectivity varies at predicted phase-lags to drive seizures. Our results define absence seizures as dynamics confined to a chaotic attractor within a circuit implicated in anesthetic unconsciousness, linking distributed network chaos to loss of consciousness.<\/jats:p>\n                <jats:sec>\n                  <jats:title>Graphical Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:fig id=\"ufig1\" position=\"float\" fig-type=\"figure\" orientation=\"portrait\">\n                    <jats:graphic xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" xlink:href=\"678032v2_ufig1\" position=\"float\" orientation=\"portrait\"\/>\n                  <\/jats:fig>\n                <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1101\/2025.09.23.678032","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,25]],"date-time":"2025-09-25T23:55:12Z","timestamp":1758844512000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Interpretable Machine Learning Identifies an Emergent Absence Seizure Mechanism"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1812-0214","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jacob M.","family":"Hull","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nicholas","family":"Denomme","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Stanford University, Stanford CA, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Surya","family":"Ganguli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford CA USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6950-1191","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"John R.","family":"Huguenard","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"54368","reference":[{"key":"2026091921452033000_2025.09.23.678032v2.1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1001\/archneur.62.3.371"},{"key":"2026091921452033000_2025.09.23.678032v2.2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.0753-07.2007"},{"issue":"1","key":"2026091921452033000_2025.09.23.678032v2.3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"117","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-022-35535-4","article-title":"Decreased but diverse activity of cortical and thalamic neurons in consciousness-impairing rodent absence seizures","volume":"14","year":"2023","journal-title":"Nature Communications"},{"key":"2026091921452033000_2025.09.23.678032v2.4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41593-018-0130-4"},{"key":"2026091921452033000_2025.09.23.678032v2.5","unstructured":"Dulko E , Kilianski S , Carns AG , Rajesh A , Lesmana I , Pikus M , Beenhakker M. 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