'Permanent 'vegetable' communicates

[Treppers]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1867369,00.html

[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]For first time, doctors communicate with patient in persistent vegetative state[/FONT]

[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Brain scans showed woman was able to imagine playing tennis and walking round her flat[/FONT]

[FONT=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif] Ian Sample, science correspondent
Friday September 8, 2006
The Guardian

[/FONT] A 23-year-old woman who has been in a vegetative state since suffering devastating brain damage in a traffic accident has stunned doctors by performing mental tasks for them. Brain scans revealed that the woman, who has shown no outward signs of awareness since the accident in July last year, could understand people talking to her and was able to imagine playing tennis or walking around her home when asked to by doctors.


Urgh, made me think about those poor other people who were condemned as permanently vegetative... Creepy. Can you imagine just lying there, being aware, able to think - but unable to move or communicate. everyone just thinks you are in a coma and able to do nothing. What a terrifying thought...

 

[bliz]

Whoa!

Communmication? No.

When the woman in a PVS was asked to think about playing tennis, specific areas in her brain became more active, the same areas of the brain activated by the same request made to a conscious person. However, when the same test was tried on other patients in a PVS, there was no such reaction.

Obviously this woman heard and understood what was said to her, but this is not true for everyone. Hearing and understanding do not communication make.

It certainly is very interesting.

 

[sreno7]

How on earth can they tell what she was thinking or imagining?