Neural basis for contents and levels of consciousness in patients with disorders of consciousness.

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K13113
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Basic / Social brain science
• Research Institution: National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities
• Principal Investigator: Kansaku Kenji 国立障害者リハビリテーションセンター(研究所), 研究所 脳機能系障害研究部, 研究室長 (60399318)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 高野 弘二 国立障害者リハビリテーションセンター(研究所), 研究所・脳機能系障害研究部, 研究員 (00510588)
• Research Collaborator: Okahara Yoji 国立障害者リハビリテーションセンター, 研究所 脳機能系障害研究部, 外来研究員 ; Utsumi Kota 国立障害者リハビリテーションセンター, 研究所 脳機能系障害研究部, 外来研究員 ; Kawase Toshihiro 国立障害者リハビリテーションセンター, 研究所 脳機能系障害研究部, 外来研究員
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: コミュニケーション / 意識内容

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aimed to evaluate contents and levels of consciousness in patients with disorders of consciousness, and further to elucidate neural mechanisms of these patients.
To evaluate contents of consciousness, we applied language tasks (passive listening of stories) and recorded fMRI signals from unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS) patients. We found that a few of the patients activated the posterior language areas, suggesting that these patients may comprehend speech. We also used brain-machine interface technologies, and found a patient who successfully operated the system. Further, in order to evaluate arousal levels of consciousness, we investigated physiological markers of relative change of subjective sleepiness by EEG measures. We found a strong correlation between the change of score calculated by the proposed method and the change of Karolinska Sleepiness Scale that assess subjective sleepiness.

Free Research Field

神経生理学, システム神経科学