By By Tim Sandle Oct 25, 2014 in Science Scientists have identified brain activity patterns that appear to indicate when an unresponsive patient is conscious. The finding helps to characterize brain activity patterns that can identify signs of awareness in seemingly vegetative patients. In Another advantage with the technique is that The findings have been Through using electroencephalography (EEG) to compare brain activity of healthy adults with 32 vegetative or minimally conscious patients, medical scientists found that a diversely of connected networks that support awareness are "impaired in patients, lacking the ability to efficiently integrate information across disparate regions via well-connected hubs.” They also discovered that some patients had networks that were much more similar to those of healthy adults, and these patients showed signs of “hidden awareness,” such as being able to follow commands by imaging different activities. Understanding this crucial difference could help to distinguish between those people in a coma who are "brain dead" and those who retain a level of consciousness.In a research brief , the scientists state: "Being able to detect the recovery of brain networks in patients, alongside or even before they show behavioral signs of improvement, is very promising." However, they add: "further work is essential to translate these scientific advances into viable tools that can be reliably used at the patients’ bedsides to accurately inform and guide their clinical care."Another advantage with the technique is that EEG is a far simpler and cheaper brain imaging technique that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). EEG concerns is the recording of electrical activity along the scalp. EEG measures voltage fluctuations resulting from ionic current flows within the neurons of the brain.The findings have been published in the journal PLOS Computational Biology. The study is titled "Spectral Signatures of Reorganised Brain Networks in Disorders of Consciousness." More about Brain, conciousness, Reality, Sleep More news from Brain conciousness Reality Sleep