People who are 'locked in' are not cut off from perceptive stimulus. They're simply cut off from being able to have their nervous system output result in manip

People who are 'locked in' are not cut off from perceptive stimulus. They're simply cut off from being able to have their nervous system output result in manipulation of the world. I imagine this does have a significant effect upon their conscious experience, but it's not something that would be easy to study. Even studying how less significant damage to the body results in 'personal' changes can be difficult. Studies of victims of spinal cord damage which results in parapelegia and how that results in depression and reduced emotional range beyond what should be expected from the pain or trauma alone strikes some people as 'insulting'. Our adamant refusal to recognize that the 'brain' is nothing more than a convenient formalism used to talk about the entire nervous system and body and that every part is necessary to give rise to what we recognize as human consciousness runs very deep. Dualism (in the sense of a body/brain split) is wrong, but apparently far too alluring for many.