The Search for Consciousness

Neuron. 2019 May 8;102(3):526-528. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.03.024.

Abstract

In recent years, rapid technological developments in the field of neuroimaging have provided new methods for assessing residual cognition, detecting consciousness, and even communicating with patients who clinically appear to be in a vegetative state. Here, I highlight some of the major implications of these developments, discuss their scientific, clinical, legal, and ethical relevance, and make my own recommendations for future directions in this field.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Awareness
  • Brain / diagnostic imaging*
  • Brain Injury, Chronic / diagnostic imaging*
  • Brain-Computer Interfaces
  • Consciousness*
  • Diagnostic Errors
  • Electroencephalography
  • Ethics, Medical
  • Functional Neuroimaging
  • Humans
  • Life Support Care* / ethics
  • Life Support Care* / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Persistent Vegetative State / diagnostic imaging*
  • Recovery of Function
  • Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared