title: Event-related brain potentials in a patient with akinetic mutism.
abstract: The clinical pattern of complete akinetic mutism (AM) was observed in a patient with a bilateral infarction of the anterior cerebral arteries extending to the rostral cingulate cortex and the supplementary motor areas. Since the patient was unable to produce any overt response, event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were used to obtain information about cortical processing of stimuli. Oddball tasks with simple acoustical stimuli and semantic categories were used. Verbal processing was further assessed by comparing event-related potentials to words compatible versus incompatible to the semantic context. Although the pattern of cortical responses was abnormal, differential responses were clearly obtained to semantically different word classes. Thus, the hypothesis about cortical non-responsivity of AM patients, drawn from several previous reports, was not supported. An ERP examination in AM patients can deliver information about their mental state, provided that the stimuli and tasks possess a wide range of informational complexity and motivational value.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Gartenstr. 29, 72074, Tübingen, Germany. boris.kotchoubey@uni-tuebingen.de
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kotchoubey
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schneck
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.forename: Niels
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Birbaumer
mesh_terms: D000405:Akinetic Mutism / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D017542:Aneurysm, Ruptured / Q000150:complications; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000098:blood supply / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic; D006801:Humans; D020243:Infarction, Anterior Cerebral Artery / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology; D002532:Intracranial Aneurysm / Q000150:complications; D007807:Language Tests; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000098:blood supply / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010264:Paraplegia / Q000209:etiology; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000150:complications; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D017287:Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt