Toward a quantitative index of consciousness

Cognitive neuroscientist Olivia Gosseries walks us through two studies in which she and colleagues used simultaneous TMS-EEG to assay the level of consciousness in neurological patients (including tracking the recovery of consciousness of coma patients transitioning from clinically defined "vegetative state" to "emerged from minimally conscious state"!) and in volunteers in an anesthesia-induced coma. Just wow.

For more info/content, please visit: https://postlab.psych.wisc.edu/cog-ne...

Relevant paper:
Casali, A. G., Gosseries, O., Rosanova, M., Boly, M., Sarasso, S., Casali, K. R., ... & Massimini, M. (2013). A theoretically based index of consciousness independent of sensory processing and behavior. Science translational medicine, 5(198), 198ra105-198ra105.