Promoting the use of personally relevant stimuli for investigating patients with disorders of consciousness.
Sensory stimuli are used to evaluate and to restore cognitive functions and consciousness in patients with a disorder of consciousness (DOC) following a severe brain injury. Although sophisticated protocols can help assessing higher order cognitive functions and awareness, one major drawback is their lack of sensitivity. The aim of the present review is to show that stimulus selection is crucial for an accurate evaluation of the state of patients with disorders of consciousness as it determines the levels of processing that the patient can have with stimulation from his/her environment. The probability to observe a behavioral response or a cerebral response is increased when her/his personal history and/or her/his personal preferences are taken into account. We show that personally relevant stimuli (i.e., with emotional, autobiographical, or self-related characteristics) are associated with clearer signs of perception than are irrelevant stimuli in patients with DOC. Among personally relevant stimuli, music appears to be a promising clinical tool as it boosts perception and cognition in patients with DOC and could also serve as a prognostic tool. We suggest that the effect of music on cerebral processes in patients might reflect the music's capacity to act both on the external and internal neural networks supporting consciousness.
Auditory Cognition and Psychoacoustics Team, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (UCBL, CNRS UMR5292, Inserm U1028) Lyon, France.
Fabien
F
Perrin
Auditory Cognition and Psychoacoustics Team, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (UCBL, CNRS UMR5292, Inserm U1028) Lyon, France.
Maïté
M
Castro
Auditory Cognition and Psychoacoustics Team, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (UCBL, CNRS UMR5292, Inserm U1028) Lyon, France.
Barbara
B
Tillmann
Henry Gabrielle Hospital, Hospices Civils de Lyon Lyon, France ; Neurological Hospital, Hospices Civils de Lyon Lyon, France ; IMPACT, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (UCBL, CNRS UMR5292, Inserm U1028) Lyon, France.
Jacques
J
Luauté
autobiographical memory; coma; disorders of consciousness; internal and external networks; minimally conscious state; music; self-processing; vegetative state