Brain Scan allows communication with vegetative patients?

This past week, the New England Journal of Medicine published the findings of a study which suggest that brain scan technology may allow communication with patients in vegetative states. The study monitored brain activity in vegetative patients using functional MRI imaging. When responding to a question, the subjects were told to imagine playing tennis, or walking in a familiar area, with each activity activating a different area of the brain and corresponding to either a "yes" or "no" response to the question.



You can read more about it here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/03/AR2010020302887_2.html?hpid=topnews



Here is the original article which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine:

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/NEJMoa0905370