For decades, we have been trying to find out who comatose patients are, where they are, etc. It was believed that they did not understand. However, scientists conducted an experiment that refutes this.
They placed comatose patient Carol in the fMRI scanner at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge and asked her to imagine waving her arms in the air while playing tennis. Surprisingly, the part of their brain known as the premotor cortex was activated in the same way as healthy people.
All this confirmed that the patient was, in fact, conscious and aware of everything that was happening around him. And this despite not physically responding to requests for five months.
A few years later, scientists conducted another experiment. It was about a young man named Scott who remained in a vegetative state for 12 years after a collision with a police car.
By changing the pattern of his brain activity, Scott was able to tell researchers that he knew where he had been, for how long, and what he liked to watch on television. However, he showed no physical reaction.
An independent scientific review found that 20 to 25 percent of more than 1,000 comatose people looked like Scott and Carol. In other words, although their bodies remained motionless, they actually understood and heard everything.
Source: Ferra
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