A person considered to be in a vegetative state quietly lays in a hospital, motionless. Past thinking had everyone to believe this person is not conscious, barely living. Adrian Owen, from the University of Western Ontario, disagrees. Owen explained, "There's a man here who technically meets all the internationally agreed criteria for being in a vegetative state, yet he can generate 200 responses with his brain. Clearly, this guy is not in a true vegetative state. He's probably as conscious as you or I are."
The search for consciousness in people in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) started in 2005 for Owen and his team. Using functional MRI, the team attempted to prove that PVS patients are aware. Their results proved that in many cases, they were. However, fMRI proved too costly. This is where electroencephalography (EEG) stepped in.
Lead writer on the study, Damian Cruse elaborated on the use of EEG, "Our new method uses electroencephalography (EEG) which is relatively cheap, portable and widely available. This means that we can now go out into the community and visit patients in their residential care homes or hospitals and provide a more accurate diagnosis than was previously possible.”
Using EEG to monitor what areas of the brain are responding to different questions/demands, Owen and his team found a conscious responsiveness in 19% of PVS patients. In the tests, both healthy volunteers and PVS patients were asked to either move their right hand or move their toes. As the videos below show, near identical responses were recorded. Owen stated that the results could be used to communicate through a simple right hand is "yes," toes is "no" way to begin. Owen said, "There are some interesting questions that one should get on to right away. One is, ‘Are you in pain?'"
EEG is already allowing paralyzed people interact with the outside world, move robots, and operate computers. For Owen and his team, the next step is to equip PVS patients in similar methods.
From being trapped in one's own body to moving within a virtual world, would be a miracle for many. I hope to see more progress on this project soon.
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