TagComa
A Short Film Explores the Dreamscape of a Child in a Coma
While her faithful father waits and tries to connect with her…Last week, five animated short films competed for Oscar gold, with the top prize going to the emotionally charged “If Anything Happens I Love You.” The short is a bold examination of bereavement as two parents grapple with the violent loss of their young daughter. It’s a worthy winner. However, my own pick didn’t make the shortlist. WiNDUP (2020), written and directed by young creative Yibing Jiang, is also a poignant meditation on parenthood and grief — in this case, for a child in a possibly irreversible coma — as well as a technical gem. Jiang’s company, Unity, uses custom-built software to create shorts in “real-time 3D” on standard computers. Doing without certain tools that animators take for granted today, Read More ›
Your Soul Has No “Off Switch”
A major modern misunderstanding of the human mind is to assume that it is like a machine with an “on” and an “off” switch
Your Mind vs. Your Brain: Ten Things To Know
Although we are only beginning to understand the workings of the brain, it clearly isn't the same thing as the mind
Is There Hope for People in a Persistent Vegetative State?
Yes! Modern neuroscience is shining a light on their mindsToday, many neuroscientists don’t even call it a persistent vegetative state. The new term is disorders of consciousness. One neuroscientist recounts, In the past 20 years, advances in neuroimaging techniques have allowed us to explore brain functions in these altered states of consciousness. One breakthrough study conducted at our lab, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, involved 54 DoC patients. The researchers asked the patients to perform two mental-imagery tasks while they lay in a brain scanner. In the first, they were asked to imagine playing tennis; in the second, to imagine walking from room to room in their home – mental tasks that are associated with contrasting patterns of neural activity. Remarkably, five patients Read More ›
Can People in Comas Have Abstract Thoughts?
Neurosurgeon Michael Egnor discusses how we might test for that abilityIn the recent podcast, “Michael Egnor on Whether People in Comas Can Think,” Robert J. Marks raised an interesting point with Egnor: Can people in comas think abstractly or do they form thoughts only at a much more basic level, given how physically distressed they are? The answer might surprise you.
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Can Loved Ones in a Coma Hear Us?
Modern brain imaging studies show that very often they can. And, with help from new technology, they can answer us tooPioneering research using brain imaging (fMRI) over the last fifteen years has shown that, even in deep coma, people can hear, understand, and respond. It’s no longer just anecdotes from caregivers. The controversial Terri Schiavo case might be decided very differently today.
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New Evidence That Some Comatose People Really Do Understand
Researchers found mental activity in response to verbal commands even in some “completely unresponsive” patientsThere is growing evidence that many comatose patients are quite aware of what is going on around them. For example, nurses are often very careful not to say upsetting things that the patient can hear because blood pressure often rises dramatically, even in deeply “unaware” comatose patients.
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