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Comment on "Detecting awareness in the vegetative state".

Nachev P, Husain M

Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Imperial College London, UK. p.nachev@imperial.ac.uk

In a report of a single patient in a persistent vegetative state, Owen et al. (Brevia, 8 September 2006, p. 1402) claimed that the presence of task-specific brain activation in response to verbal command implies both covert conscious awareness and a capacity for intention. We argue that neither can be securely inferred from the evidence presented.

Published 2 March 2007 in Science, 315(5816): 1221; author reply 1221.
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