Citation

Schiff ND. Trends Neurosci. 2010; 33(1): 1-9.

Affiliation

Department of Neurology and Neuroscience, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.tins.2009.11.002

PMID

19954851

PMCID

PMC2931585

Abstract

Recovery of consciousness following severe brain injuries can occur over long time intervals. Importantly, evolving cognitive recovery can be strongly dissociated from motor recovery in some individuals, resulting in underestimation of cognitive capacities. Common mechanisms of cerebral dysfunction that arise at the neuronal population level may explain slow functional recoveries from severe brain injuries. This review proposes a "mesocircuit" model that predicts specific roles for different structural and dynamic changes that may occur gradually during recovery. Recent functional neuroimaging studies that operationally identify varying levels of awareness, memory and other higher brain functions in patients with no behavioral evidence of these cognitive capacities are discussed. Measuring evolving changes in underlying brain function and dynamics post-injury and post-treatment frames future investigative work.

Language: en