Authors: Yavari F; Nitsche M; Ekhtiari H. — During recent years, non-invasive brain stimulation, including transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) in general, and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in particular, have created new hopes for treatment of neurological and psychiatric diseases. Despite promising primary results in some brain disorders, a more widespread application of tES is […]

Authors: Thibaut A; Chatelle C; Vanhaudenhuyse A; Martens G; Cassol H; Martial C; Carrière M; Barra A; Laureys S; Gosseries O. — Thanks to modern neuroimaging techniques it appears that 30% of clinically unresponsive patients (i.e., unresponsive wakefulness syndrome – UWS) retain cerebral functions that are similar to patients in a minimally conscious state – […]

Authors: Wannez S; Hoyoux T; Langohr T; Bodart O; Martial C; Wertz J; Chatelle C; Verly JG; Laureys S. — Visual pursuit is a key marker of residual consciousness in patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC). Currently, its assessment relies on subjective clinical decisions. In this study, we explore the variability of such clinical assessments, […]

Authors: Wannez S; Heine L; Thonnard M; Gosseries O; Laureys S; Coma Science Group collaborators. — OBJECTIVE: To determine whether repeated examinations using the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) have an impact on diagnostic accuracy of patients with disorders of consciousness and to provide guidelines regarding the number of assessments required for obtaining a reliable diagnosis. […]

Authors: Wannez S; Gosseries O; Azzolini D; Martial C; Cassol H; Aubinet C; Annen J; Martens G; Bodart O; Heine L; Charland-Verville V; Thibaut A; Chatelle C; Vanhaudenhuyse A; Demertzi A; Schnakers C; Donneau AF; Laureys S. — Different behavioural signs of consciousness can distinguish patients with an unresponsive wakefulness syndrome from patients in minimally […]

Authors: Huang W; Wannez S; Fregni F; Hu X; Jing S; Martens G; He M; Di H; Laureys S; Thibaut A. — Highlights •tDCS is a simple and safe technique that has shown promising results in MCS patients. •tDCS applied over the posterior parietal cortex improved signs of consciousness in 27% of the stimulated patients. […]

Authors: Sleigh J; Warnaby C; Tracey I. Selfhood is linked to brain processes that enable the experience of a person as a distinct entity, capable of agency. This framework naturally incorporates a continuum of both non-conscious and conscious self-related information processing, and includes a hierarchy of components, such as awareness of existence (core self), embodied […]

Authors: Warnaby CE; Sleigh JW; Hight D; Jbabdi S; Tracey I. BACKGROUND: Previously, we showed experimentally that saturation of slow-wave activity provides a potentially individualized neurophysiologic endpoint for perception loss during anesthesia. Furthermore, it is clear that induction and emergence from anesthesia are not symmetrically reversible processes. The observed hysteresis is potentially underpinned by a […]

Authors: Julia Moser, Franziska Schleger & Hubert Preissl Neurophysiological correlates of consciousness are used in normal and diseased populations. One possible approach is the application of an auditory “localglobal” mismatch paradigm. Based on a learned global rule the global deviant elicits a mismatch response – in addition to the local mismatch – which is related […]

Authors: Molero-Chamizo A. et al. Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) induces long-term potentiation-like plasticity, which is associated with long-lasting effects on different cognitive, emotional, and motor performances. Specifically, tDCS applied over the motor cortex is considered to improve reaction time in simple and complex tasks. The timing of tDCS relative to task performance could […]