Imaging Study Probes Consciousness in Brain-Injured Patients

New research uses imaging technology to assess higher-level cognitive functioning in severely brain-injured patients. The study provides a window into consciousness — but the view it presents is one that is blurred in fascinating ways, say researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College.
In a novel study of six patients ranging in their function from minimally conscious state to the locked-in syndrome (normal cognitive function with severe motor impairment), the researchers looked at how the brains of these patients respond to a set of commands and questions while being scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).Read more...