Cutting Edge Lectures in Science: Detecting consciousness in the absence of responsiveness
with Stefanie Blain-Moraes, Assistant Professor, School of Occupational & Physical Therapy
Detecting conscious awareness in an individual who cannot move or speak is an unsolved problem, with major clinical and ethical implications. This lecture will explore the possibilities offered by anesthesia - an agent that induces pharmacological unconsciousness - for the detection of consciousness in patients in coma, unresponsive wakefulness syndrome and minimally conscious state. The reconfiguration of brain networks in response to an anesthetic perturbation may shed light on how human brains sustain conscious awareness.
The speaker will be introduced by 平特五不中 student ambassadors Heather Rogers and Isabel Smith who will also moderate the Q&A after the presentation.