Pitt study probes 'covert consciousness'

Ricardo Iriart last saw his wife conscious four years ago.

- Anya Sostek, Tribune News Service

Every day since, he has visited Angeles, often spending hours talking to her in hopes that she could hear him.Over the last year, he's gotten a new understanding of his wife's condition, participating in cutting-edge research into "covert consciousness." It's an emerging field of study that probes what patients with disorders of consciousness can comprehend, even when they can't respond.

Earlier this year, the University of Pittsburgh became the first research institution in the US to use an Austrian device called the mindBeagle in a clinical trial of covert consciousness.

"Even though they are not scoring to show that they are aware of their environment, the mindBeagle allows us to tap into whether they are internally following directions," said Katya Hill, a professor who recently moved from Pitt to chair the department of communication science and disorders at Gannon University. “In some cases, they are able to answer yes or no questions when we train them well enough with the paradigms on the mindBeagle."