Injury to thalamocortical projections following traumatic brain injury results in attractor dynamics for cortical networks

•Consciousness is associated with complex cortical activity.•Injury to thalamo-prefrontal connections leads to cortical attractor dynamics.•This attractor generates deterministic and predictable cortical activity.•The number of available cortical states in this attractor regime is limited.•Thalamic input is critical to cortical flexibility required for consciousness.