Head Lines; January 2004; Scientific American Mind; by Chris Jozefowicz, Dennis Watkins, Scotia W. MacRae, Daniel Cho, Mark Fischetti; 4 Page(s)

"He¿¿s a vegetable." The words evoke the image of a human being who lies permanently lifeless and unconscious. Yet how do we know that such a person's mind isn't still intact? How horrible it would be if the patient couldn't communicate yet could understand the people standing around his hospital bed, talking about him as if he were dead.

John F. Connolly, a psychology professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and postdoctoral fellow Yannick Marchand reported at the recent Society for Psychophysiological Research meeting in Chicago that a range of patients who are otherwise incapacitated are still processing language.