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The consciousness continuum
Many of the most difficult bioethical issues hinge on the question of who or what is a person. If we regard a human fetus as a person, then we cannot permit abortion. If we regard a patient in a permanent vegetative state as a person, then the withholding of nutrition and hydration is a deeply troubling act. If some animals are persons, as has been argued by animal rights, then many of the ways in which animals are routinely treated in agriculture, research labs and zoos are morally impermissible. more>>
Andrews, K. (1996). Misdiagnosis of the vegetative state: retrospective study in a rehabilitation unit. British Medical Journal, 313 (7048): 13-16.
Churchland, P.S. (2005). A neurophilosophical slant on consciousness research. Prog. Brain Research, 149: 285-293.
Farah, M.J. (2008). Neuroethics and the problem of other minds: Implications of neuroscience for the moral status of vegetative patients and nonhuman animals. Neuroethics.
Farah, M.J. & Heberlein, A.S. (2007). Personhood and neuroscience: naturalizing or nihilating? American Journal of Bioethics, 7 (1): 37-48.
* Fins, J.J. (2005). Rethinking disorders of consciousness: new research and its implications Hastings Center Report, 35 (2): 22-24.
* Giacino, J.T. (2003). Disorders of consciousness in coma, stupor, and minimally responsive states. Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychology (2nd Ed.): 337-345.
Giacino, J.T., Hirsch, J., Schiff, N. & Laureys, S. (2006). Functional neuroimaging applications for assessment and rehabilitation planning in patients with disorders of consciousness. Archives of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, 87 (12 Supp 2): S67-76.
* de Jong, B.M., Willemsen, A.T., Paans, A.M. (1997). Regional cerebral blood flow changes related to affective speech presentation in persistent vegetative state. Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery, 99 (3): 213-216.
Laureys, S. (2005). Death, unconsciousness and the brain. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 6, 899-909.
Laureys, S. (2005). The neural correlates of (un)awareness: lessons from the vegetative state. Trends in Cognitive Scienes, 9 (12): 556-559.
Laureys S., Owen, A,M., Schiff, N.D. (2004). Brain function in coma, vegetative state, and related disorders. Lancet Neurology, 3 (9): 537-546.
Munakata Y. (2001). Graded representationsin behavioral dissociations. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5 (7): 309-315.
NINDS Coma and Persistent Vegetative State Information Page
*The multi-society task force on PVS. (1994). Medical Aspects of the Persistent Vegetative State (1). New England Journal of Medicine, 330: 1499-1508.
Owen, A.M., Coleman, M.R., Boly, M., Davis, M.H., Laureys, S., & Pickard, J.D. Detecting awareness in the vegetative state. Science, 313 (5792): 1402.
Rees, G., Kreiman, G., Koch, C. (2002). Neural correlates of consciousness in humans. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 3 (4): 261-270.
*Saxe, R., Carey, S., Kanwisher, N. (2004). Understanding other minds: linking developmental psychology and functional neuroimaging. Annual Review of Psychology, 55: 87-124.
*Schiff, N.D., Rodriguez-Moreno, D., Kamal, A., Kim, K.H., Giacino, J.T., Plum, F., Hirsch, J. (2005). fMRI reveals large-scale network activation in minimally conscious patients. Neurology, 64 (3): 514-523.
*Siegal, M., Varley, R. (2002). Neural systems involved in “theory of mind”. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 3 (6): 463-471.
* Vuilleumier, P., Armony, J.L., Clarke, K., Husain, M., Driver, J., Dolan, R.J. (2002). Neural response to emotional faces with and without awareness: event-related fMRI in a parietal patient with visual extinction and spatial neglect. Neuropsychologia, 40 (12): 2156-2166.
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