The patient showed no signs of comprehending, let alone responding. Yet the pattern of hemodynamic brain activity was similar to that of healthy volunteers who closed their eyes and imagined similar actions. Such fantasizing is a complex and purposeful mental activity that takes place over minutes: It is unlikely to occur unconsciously. The injured woman, despite her inability to signal with her hands, eyes, or voice, was at least sporadically conscious and able to follow an external command. Most other vegetative state patients who were tested in this manner had no such brain signatures; they
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