New ‘map of consciousness’ can wake up comma patients: Study
Scientists found the ‘default network’ of the brain that remains active during the resting state
Scientists in a new study have taken one more step closer to finding a new ‘map of consciousness’ that will help in waking up comma patients.
According to Science Focus by BBC, Human consciousness is made from two crucial building blocks: arousal and awareness.
Scientists in a new groundbreaking study have mapped how these two human consciousness states join up.
The researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital used the MRI scans to study three post-mortem human brains at a resolution of less than a millimetre.
The map revealed the unseen pathways between the key area of brain. The researchers called these pathways the ‘default network’ of the brain.
The scientist said that the ‘default network’ is the part of the brain that is active during the resting state of consciousness.
Brian Edlow, the lead author of the study and associate professor at Harvard University, mentioned, “Our goal was to map a human brain network that is critical to consciousness and to provide clinicians with better tools to detect, predict, and promote recovery of consciousness in patients with severe brain injuries.”
The researchers of the study published in the journal of Science Translational Medicine, believe that these findings could even help patients to recover from comas.
Moreover, scientists highlighted the key sites where stimulation could ‘wake up’ connections with other regions of the brain that are critical to consciousness.