Phenomenological aspects of consciousness — its disturbance in acute and chronic stages

Abstract

SummaryThe meaning of a disturbance of consciousness is completely different in an acute as opposed to a chronic stage. In the acute stage, the grade of arousal is the most essential component in order to assess the changes of the level of intracranial pressure in neurosurgical emergency room. A new coma scale called Emergency Coma Scale has been proposed, which represents a combination of the Glasgow Coma Scale and the Japan Coma Scale.In the chronic stage, however, contents of consciousness or mental function deserve phenomenological and holistic investigations, keeping the di¤erence between consciousness and mind in consideration, in order not only to treat and care for patients following cerebral injuries, stroke and mild cognitive impairment in aged people. We propose the di¤erence in conception between consciousness and mind; that is, consciousness consists of psycho-sensory a¤erent system, mind of psycho-motor e¤erent and a¤erent system, and memory and language as liaison o‰cers between them. This proposal would play a role to understand mental change in the natural aging processes, when memory and cognition are deteriorating gradually, but is still in evolution in the field of culture.

Disruption of brain connectivity in acute stroke patients with early impairment in consciousness

“…To our knowledge, the present is the first study to show the correlation of GCS changes and DMN connectivity in acute neurological illness. It is important to note that the meaning of an impairment of consciousness is different in an acute stage than in a chronic stage (Ohta, 2005). Patients suffering from acute neurological illness such as an infarction, spontaneous hemorrhaging, or traumatic brain injury may experience transient or prolonged impairment of consciousness.…”

Storage of Information and Its Implications for Human Development: A Dialectic Approach

“…The current and most accepted definitions of mind include a number of phenomena such as sensory perception, memory, consciousness, reasoning, control of emotions, and, possibly, determining action -an even broader (and more vague) term than consciousness! Neurosurgeon Tomio Ohta (2005) has proposed that consciousness and mind are separate processes, with memory and language acting as liaison officers between them. From this perspective, consciousness is distinct in that it is a structure that receives information provided by the senses and supervises the process by which the mind and brain elaborate this information (Goldberg, 2002).…”

“…To approach this question, we need to engage with four prominent fields: within cognitive science, the study of consciousness and the study of extended cognition; the neurobiology of memory (including epigenetics); and archeology. For one, studies of consciousness are coming closer to understanding awareness and self-awareness -and how we integrate various experiences into cognition over time (Ohta, 2005;Kandel, 2007;Graziano, 2013). More precisely, the development of Attention Schema Theory (AST) and similar theories of the mind offer a compelling model for integrating the role of environmental and social factors in structuring awareness and, therefore, consciousness (Graziano, 2013).…”

Guidelines for Quality Management of Apallic Syndrome / Vegetative State

“…For later recovery states, the early Barthel index and the FIM have shown complementary results (see also [121, 131, 132a]). The SMART (Sensory Modality Assessment and Rehabilitation Technique) is widely used in the UK and many parts of Europe and has been the method used to detect that as many as 43% of patients thought to be in the VS were actually aware [67][68][69][133][134][135][136][137]. There is a lot of merit too in the Royal College of physicians concept of what is required and what is compatible with the VS diagnosis [37].…”