The effect of neural pre-stimulus oscillations on post-stimulus auditory ERPs in disorders of consciousness.
Frontiers in neuroscience January 1, 2025 Laura Lindenbaum, Inga Steppacher, Alexandra Mehlmann et al.
In people with disorders of consciousness, brain activity before a sound influences how the brain responds to that sound. Among 14 patients (12 in a minimally conscious state, 2 with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome), half showed a P3-like brain response to auditory oddball stimuli. Patients who had this response tended to have more beta and gamma brain wave power before the stimulus. The relationship between pre-stimulus brain activity and post-stimulus responses varied greatly across patients, with some showing negative correlations between high-frequency pre-stimulus power and later brain responses. This variability highlights the need for individual assessment to find optimal stimulation windows for each patient.