Subject: A new test for consciousness?
From: "William J. Rapaport" <rapaport@BUFFALO.EDU>
Date: Sun, 29 Nov 2009 16:12:56 -0500

We'll be looking at possible tests for consciousness this week.
Recently, the Buffalo News published two articles reporting on a
comatose patient who was determined to be conscious by "new medical
technology".

The articles are located at:

http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/719/CrashVictimLockedInBody.pdf
http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/719/ComatoseFor23Yrs.pdf

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Subject:     Re: CSE 719: A new test for consciousness?
Date:     Sun, 29 Nov 2009 17:34:17 -0500
From:     Michael W Kandefer <mkandefer24@gmail.com>
To:     William J. Rapaport <rapaport@cse.Buffalo.EDU>

There has been much buzz around the comatose man from Belgium in the
news, and little skepticism being shown from reporters.* One of the
techniques, and the one that has been the focus of the media, used to
determine that this man is conscious and capable of communicating
appears to be facilitated communication (FC) . It's a technique that
found its beginning in autism research, but after scientific review has
been shown to be nothing but the ideomotor effect. The same effect that
powers Ouija boards.

* - Not too surprising considering the credulous nature of "scientific"
reporting in the mainstream media, which finds blue blurs on gas station
cameras to be evidence of the paranormal.

The American Psychological Association (APA) summarizes their position
as follows:

"THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that APA adopts the position that facilitated
communication is a controversial and unproved communicative procedure
with no scientifically demonstrated support for its efficacy".

http://www.apa.org/divisions/div33/fcpolicy.html

While the PET scans that show brain activity aren't controversial, and
may show the man is more than minimally conscious, FC has been the focus
of many articles, and what is currently being used to "demonstrate" that
this man can communicate. The neurologist working with the man addresses
the FC aspect of the story, and emphasizes that this is not the test
used to determine that he is conscious:

"When I first saw Rom three years ago, he had been diagnosed as being
in a vegetative state. We used the Coma Recovery Scale--Revised, which
is a bedside behavioural assessment done in a very standardised way,
and which you do repeatedly so as not to miss any signs of
consciousness.  And he showed minimal signs of consciousness. So we
didn't even need fancy scanning methods to change the diagnosis. Then
he had a brain scan--and we saw near-normal brain function."

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18209-steven-laureys-how-i-know-coma-man-is-conscious.html

For those who are curious, here is an article describing FC from the
APA with other sources to pursue:

http://www.psychologymatters.org/facilitated.html
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