The human brain is quite possibly the most powerful and resilient biological attribute of any living organism on the planet. Our ability to transgress the laws of physics, time, and space through our internal and imaginary existence has transformed humanity into a civilization with no boundaries, except for the ones we set ourselves. Not only does it control our thoughts, feelings, and aspirations, but it also regulates and monitors our bodily systems and tells us when something is wrong. It is for this reason that a traumatic brain injury is probably one of the most terrifying injuries that a person can sustain.
Unfortunately, comas and persistent vegetative states are common among people who sustain serious brain injuries. The recovery chances are bleak for most of these individuals and doctors are usually pessimistic about the prospect of a full recovery.
A recent study on two "minimal conscious state" individuals have show evidence that people who are in a coma-like state do indeed have an internal mental life. A minimal conscious state usually occurs after a serious brain injury. It is a condition where patients seem to be unconscious but sometimes exhibit intermittent signs of awareness of the self and the immediate environment. Individuals may not be able to sustain these momentary bouts of awareness. The condition is slightly different from a coma, where patients are entirely unresponsive, or a persistent vegetative state, where individuals are clearly unconscious but show automatic function capability like sleep-wake cycles and eye-tracking.
Researchers found that when recordings of friends or family were played, recounting familiar events, the temporal lobe regions of the brain were activated. The temporal lobe has been associated with language comprehension and name recognition. This finding suggests that the patient was perhaps understanding and responding to what was happening in the immediate environment.
Researchers noticed something else that they found to be "haunting." Along with activity taking place in the temporal lobe regions of the brain, they found activity taking place in the occipital lobe. It is speculated that perhaps memories are being accessed and mental images evoked when the recording are being playing.
A complete understanding of the brain has yet to be realized and probably will not be for quite some time. The neurobiology and psychology fields of study are still in infancy. With so little information out there to make speculations definitive, the medical field still remains mystified by the feats of the human brain.
If you would like more information regarding brain injuries and how they might affect you, visit www.traumatic-braininjurylawyers.com.
Joseph Devine
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