Giulio Tononi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1960 Trento, Italy |
| Alma mater | Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies |
| Known for | Sleep research,integrated information theory,consciousness studies |
| Awards | NIH Director's Pioneer award (2005) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Psychology,neuroscience |
| Institutions | University of Wisconsin, Madison University of Pisa University of California at San Diego |
| Notable students | Erik Hoel |
Giulio Tononi (Italian:[ˈdʒuːljotoˈnoːni]) is aneuroscientist andpsychiatrist who holds the David P. White Chair in Sleep Medicine, as well as a Distinguished Chair in Consciousness Science, at theUniversity of Wisconsin. He is best known for hisIntegrated Information Theory (IIT), a mathematical theory of consciousness, which he has proposed since 2004.[1][2]
Tononi was born inTrento, Italy, and obtained anM.D. in psychiatry and a Ph.D. inneurobiology at theSant'Anna School of Advanced Studies inPisa, Italy.
He is an authority on sleep, and in particular the genetics andetiology of sleep.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9] Tononi and collaborators have pioneered several complementary approaches to study sleep:
This research has led to a comprehensive hypothesis on the function of sleep (proposed with sleep researcher Chiara Cirelli), the synaptic homeostasis hypothesis. According to the hypothesis, wakefulness leads to a net increase insynaptic strength, and sleep is necessary to reestablish synaptichomeostasis. The hypothesis has implications for understanding the effects ofsleep deprivation and for developing novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to sleep disorders and neuropsychiatric disorders.[10]
Tononi is a leader in the field ofconsciousness studies,[11] and has co-authored a book on the subject with Nobel prize winnerGerald Edelman.[12][13]
Tononi also developed theintegrated information theory (IIT): a theory of what consciousness is, how it can be measured, how it is correlated with brain states, and why it fades when we fall into dreamless sleep and returns when we dream. The theory is being tested with neuroimaging, Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and computer models.[14] His work has been described as "the only really promising fundamental theory of consciousness" by collaboratorChristof Koch.[15]
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