So what are the hundreds of millions of neocortical pattern recognizers talking to the thalamus about? It is apparently an important conversation, because profound damage to the main region of the thalamus bilaterally can lead to prolonged unconsciousness. A person with a damaged thalamus may still have activity in his neocortex, in that the self-triggering thinking by association can still work. But directed thinking—the kind that will get us out of bed, into our car, and sitting at our desk at work—does not function without a thalamus. In a famous case, twenty-one-year-old Karen Ann Quinlan
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