They rely on mental imagery [0] to communicate. They ask the patients to imagine themselves playing tennis or wandering in their house for tens of seconds at a

They rely on mental imagery [0] to communicate. They ask the patients to imagine themselves playing tennis or wandering in their house for tens of seconds at a time. These tasks activate different neural networks, and it is possible to tell them apart using fMRI. Sustaining the activation of higher level cortices requires not only consciousness but attention and concentration. From there they can encode yes/no answers (tennis vs house). —–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–— 0. Detecting Awareness in the Vegetative State—http://www.sciencemag.org/content/313/5792/1402.short http://www.sciencemag.org/content/313/5792/1402.short Full text: http://perso.univ-rennes1.fr/pascal.benquet/index_fichiers/science%20FRMI%20vegetatif.pdf http://perso.univ-rennes1.fr/pascal.benquet/index_fichiers/s... This is the first publication with this protocol, which has been cross-validated and widely applied ever since: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=16360852850070909865&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=16360852850070909865... —–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—–—