Next Step: Comatose Pong?
Using a new technique, doctors have found that a patient in a vegetative state can understand speech and respond by thinking about certain tasks upon request. The doctors used functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, to map the brain patterns of the patient, who is in a vegetative state by any other definition. When asked to imagine that she was playing tennis or performing other specific tasks, her brain scan showed that she activated the same regions of her brain as fully conscious subjects visualizing the same tasks. Crazy! Although participating in this test can’t have been fun, it had to beat sitting in a bed all day thinking, “AAAAAAAH!”
Could we be one step closer to the Futurama world, where humans can live forever by having their heads mounted on robots? Check out the eerie resemblence of the Einsteinbot, presented at last weekend’s Next Fest.
Jim said,
October 5, 2006 @ 11:40 am
I wonder if this was a reflexive or conscious action on the part of the coma patient. For example, can a person in a vegetative state process auditory input and respond involuntarily, as if by reflex? Or does this person retain enough consciousness to hear, understand, and respond voluntarily, albeit in a limited way? This study raises some serious ethical concerns regarding euthanasia.
monkey said,
October 10, 2006 @ 10:56 pm
It certainly does raise some serious questions. And another potentially painful point for those for whom this could be a last hope:
Dr. Owen said, “It is important to emphasise that if we don’t see responses in a patient it does not necessarily mean that they are not aware. Future work will investigate whether the technique can be used more widely in these patients and whether this discovery could lead to a way of communicating with some patients who may be aware, but unable to move or speak.”