Health
Brain Switch that Turns off Consciousness Discovered
(Business Standard)—For the first time, researchers have been able to switch off consciousness in a woman by electrically stimulating a single brain area.
The discovery suggests that a single area – the claustrum – might be integral to combining disparate brain activity into a seamless package of thoughts, sensations and emotions.
Mohamad Koubeissi at the George University in Washington DC and his colleagues said they managed to switch a woman’s consciousness off and on by stimulating her claustrum – a thin, sheet-like structure that lies hidden deep inside the brain.
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