Detection of the “Covert Cognition” Phenomenon in Patients with Chronic Disorders of Consciousness: A Review of fMRI Data with Paradigms

• Published in: Neuroscience and behavioral physiology Vol. 53; no. 8; pp. 1397 - 1409
• Main Authors: Cherkasova, A. N., Yatsko, K. A., Kovyazina, M. S., Varako, N. A., Kremneva, E. I., Ryabinkina, Yu. V., Suponeva, N. A., Piradov, M. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.10.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Brain research; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Consciousness; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Information processing; Magnetic resonance imaging; Neurobiology; Neurology; Neurosciences; Paradigms; Rehabilitation; Unconsciousness; chronic disorders of consciousness; consciousness; cognitive motor dissociation; covert cognition; unresponsive wakefulness syndrome; functional magnetic resonance imaging; vegetative state; minimally conscious state
• ISSN: 0097-0549; 1573-899X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11055-023-01533-2

Recent decades have seen significant expansion of the diagnosis of manifestations of awareness in patients with chronic disorders of consciousness (DOC) through the use of instrumented methods. Application of these methods has led to description of the “covert cognition” phenomenon. The present review addresses studies of the covert cognition in patients with DOC using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Most variants of the passive and active paradigms for this purpose are analyzed and systematized. Special attention is paid to integrated approaches using combinations of different paradigms and investigation methods. The importance of identifying the phenomenon of covert cognition for neurorehabilitation of patients with DOC is emphasized.