Recognition of Familiar Faces and Voices in Persistent Vegetative State Studied by fMRI: Implications for the Neural Mechanism of Consciousness

FACUNDO MANES; SIGMAN L; SILVINA CARPINTIERO; TERESA TORRALVA; LILIANA SABE; LISANDRO OLMOS; RAMÓN LEIGUARDA

Berlin

Conferencia; 26th Annual International Neuropsychological Society Mid-Year Conference; 2003

International Neuropsychological Society, German Society of Neuropsychology

Objectives: Blocked design fMRI was used to investigate cortical activation specificity in PVS cases: a) after presenting familiar vs. unfamiliar faces, and b) after a familiar voice reading an emotional text vs. an unfamiliar voice reading an unemotional text. Patients and Methods: Experiment 1: Familiar faces and blurred unrecognisable images of same, followed by familiar faces vs. unfamiliar faces were shown in a block design on a computer screen, to a 55-year-old woman in PVS. Experiment 2: A 17-year-old man in PVS listened to his mother reading an emotional text and an age-matched voice reading unemotional text. Results: Experiment l: Subtraction of familiar faces from blurred unrecognisable images of same showed a significant focus of activation in the right inferior temporal gyrus and right occipitotemporal cortex. Subtraction of familiar from unfamiliar faces showed a significant focus of activation in the posterior part of the right inferior temporal gyrus and in the medial left temporal gyrus. Experiment 2: There was a significant focus of activation in the left orbitofrontal cortex and in the left auditory cortex. Conclusions: Showing familiar faces to PVS patients has an impact on brain regions normally involved in face processing , with anatomical evidence for response specificity. The left orbitofrontal cortex appears to play a role in the response to an emotionally charged voice.