Multi-Band State-Dependent Brain-Heart Coupling via Insular Spectral Multiplexing — Intracranial Evidence from the COGITATE Dataset

Intracranial evidence for state-dependent, multi-band brain-heart coupling centered on insular cortical activity, using stereotactic EEG (SEEG) data from the COGITATE consortium (N=38 subjects, 2048 Hz, BIDS format). ESTABLISHED RESULTS (6–7 subjects with insular contacts):- Bidirectional directed information flow: high-gamma (80–150 Hz) carries ascending cardiac-related signaling (Granger F=204.97, 7/7 subjects); alpha (8–12 Hz) carries descending information consistent with efferent vagal modulation (Transfer Entropy ratio=1.67–1.96, 5/5 subjects).- Partially non-redundant multi-band encoding: spectral ablation shows functionally dissociable contributions of HG and gamma bands (3/3 positive subjects, supra-additive pairs).- State-dependent coupling: brain-heart relationship present during low-RMSSD states (stress), absent during high-RMSSD states (rest), threshold ~50 ms.- Multi-timescale organization: fast bands (HG, gamma) operate on 500 ms windows; slow bands (delta, theta) emerge on 2–5 s windows (5/6 subjects).- Preliminary organ-band dissociation: HG couples preferentially with cardiac dynamics (7/7), theta with respiratory dynamics (3/6).- Band-selective cardiac gating: cardiac phase selectively gates specific spectral components (4/6 subjects, best p=0.0002). THEORETICAL EXTENSIONS (clearly labeled, no empirical data):- Predictions for auditory, somatosensory, and olfactory pathways based on the same multi-band framework.- Interactive HTML dashboard with 8 sub-tabs (5 empirical, 3 theoretical/educational). DEPOSIT INCLUDES: analysis pipeline documentation, proof hierarchy (established vs. predicted), future directions with testable hypotheses, interactive dashboard, script inventory, and result file inventory. Raw COGITATE data not redistributed (available from COGITATE consortium under their data sharing agreement). Scripts and result files to be populated from local analysis directory. This work supports a framework of spectral multiplexing in brain-heart communication, while remaining agnostic about strict physiological channelization. Observational evidence only — interventional testing (neurofeedback, optogenetics) required to establish physical independence of spectral components.