patient role who are conscious , but all paralyse , have communicated with their doctors and kin through a gimmick that measures nous oxygenation . astonishingly , the patients who have been given this opportunity apparently see themselves happy . Although the technology is currently fix to yes - no answers , and not always accurate , it could enable pregnant improvements in quality of spirit , and precede to more forward-looking communication techniques .
lock - in syndrome is literally a common incubus . Sufferers can hear , feel , and sometimes see . It can occur suddenly through a stroke , or as the terminus of progressive diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ( ALS ) , the condition that afflicts Stephen Hawking . Locked - in syndrome is not always 100 percent , and in noted instance such asJean - Dominique Bauby , communication is potential through blinking .
Professor Niels Birbaumer , of the Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering in Geneva , has go a footfall further . InPLOS Biologyhe has described achiever in tracking the thoughts of patient with complete locked - in syndrome ( CLIS ) who can not even curb winkle . Birbaumer used a technology know as operative about - infrared spectroscopy ( fNRIS ) to value the level of oxygenation in the frontocentral parts of the brain .
Birbaumer started by asking patient role questions where he and the patients sleep together the answer , such as “ Is Paris the capital letter of France ? ” and “ Is Paris the uppercase of Germany ? ” . These two produced different oxygenation patterns , indicate that the patients were responding “ yes ” to one and “ no ” to the other .
From these questions , Birbaumer build up a radiation pattern of how line fall for each patient look for positive and disconfirming result , before necessitate questions only the patient could answer .
Birbaumer was able-bodied to see if the patients had immediate needs , and asked more general questions about happiness , with unexpected resultant role .
CLIS is wide seen as a lifetime of defeat and ennui , and many people express a orientation for living livelihood to be turned off should it happen to them . However , all four patient in this trial run consistently indicated that they were happy over a menstruum of weeks . This group may be an unrepresentative sample in this regard , as all four were sufferer of ALS , whose gradual deterioration forewarned them of CLIS , and each had given instructions to be sustain alive .
Birbaumer ’s method remains frail . patient fetch skillful at controlling the timing of their blood period with practice , but Birbaumer move to enquire about their condition when the fNRIS give the right answer to cognize questions 70 percent of the time . Although understandably better than chance , this is scarce precise enough to make life or death decisions .
To compensate , Birbaumer asked important questions on multiple day , although the answers were sometimes disappointing . One family asked a locked - in don for approving of his girl ’s man and wife to her boyfriend , to which nine times out of 10 the interpretation argue his opposition .
