The man's skull was full of liquid, with just a thin layer of brain tissue left.
This came out to be 84, which is slightly below the normal range … So, this person is not bright — but perfectly, socially apt," explains Axel Cleeremans.
When he learned about the case, which was first described in The Lancet in 2007, he saw a medical miracle — but also a major challenge to theories about consciousness.
Last month, Cleeremans gave a lecture about this extremely rare case at the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness conference in Buenos Aires.
[There's a] second lesson perhaps, if you're interested in consciousness — that is the manner in which the biological activity of the brain produces awareness ... One idea that I'm defending is the idea that awareness depends on the brain's ability to learn.
These cases are definitely a challenge for any theory of consciousness that depends on very specific neuro-anatomical assumptions.
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