Emotional consciousness preserved in patients with disorders of consciousness?
Increasing evidence from studies of brain responses to subject's own name (SON) indicates that residual consciousness is preserved in patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) and that specific network activation might provide evidence of consciousness. However, it remains unclear whether SON is suitable for detection of emotional consciousness; moreover, the particular aspects of brain network organization that are critical for consciousness are unknown. The present study used an innovative approach to explore affective consciousness in patients with DOC during emotional stimuli. EEG data were acquired from 15 patients and 15 healthy volunteers. We analyzed brain potentials and functional network connectivity with a passive emotional paradigm based on graph theoretical methods. Larger N1 or P3a was detected in patients upon exposure to emotional sound, relative to neutral stimuli. Brain topology revealed that emotional sound evoked significantly stronger network linkages in healthy controls; additionally, it evoked several connectivity changes in patients with DOC. In conclusion, emotional consciousness might be partially preserved in patients with DOC; moreover, EEG network patterns could provide new insights into the neural activity of emotional perception in these patients.
['Gao|Jian|J|', 'Wu|Min|M|', 'Wu|Yuehao|Y|', 'Liu|Ping|P|http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5061-6741']
D001307:Auditory Perception D001921:Brain D003243:Consciousness D003244:Consciousness Disorders D004569:Electroencephalography D004644:Emotions D005071:Evoked Potentials D005260:Female D006801:Humans D020925:Hypoxia-Ischemia, Brain D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D009434:Neural Pathways
Emotional consciousness Disorders of consciousness Network connectivity Electroencephalography