This article from Science Daily discusses how the unconscious brain is able to function without the availability of the conscious brain. In one case, a patient survived an accident with brain damage and face blindness. To test her unconscious brain, doctors showed her images of familiar faces, unknown faces, and celebrity faces. They included new celebrities, as well as those who were famous before the patient’s accident.
The patient was not able to recognize the famous faces, however, her brain responded to the celebrities from before her accident. Professor Pegna concludes, “implicit processing might continue to occur despite the presence of an apparent impairment in conscious processing.” As long as a person’s cerebral structures are in a certain order (regarding time), then he will be able to respond to visual stimuli.
I think it is amazing how a person’s memory—from the time of the accident and beyond—may be damaged, but the memories that were established prior to the accident are still in tact. We can see here that just because a person with brain damage may not outwardly communicate visual awareness to doctors does not mean the brain is unresponsive. Ultimately, we can learn how important physiological testing is to learning about the condition of the brain.
Photograph: http://www.molwick.com/en/brain/025-human-brain-structure.html
I have always found the brain and studies of the brain extra fascinating. It's amazing how this article points out the memory retention of the brain. Studies like these are very important and will help in ailments of the brain.
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