Research
I investigate brain function in severely brain-injured patients. A substantial number of patients who survive severe brain injury progress from coma to the Vegetative State (VS). They appear to be awake, but show no behavioral signs of awareness of themselves, or of their environment in repeated clinical examinations. However, recent neuroimaging research shows that some VS patients can respond to commands by willfully modulating their brain activity according to instruction. Indeed, we are now only starting to scratch the surface in understanding the extent of preserved mental life in these patients.
As a postdoctoral fellow in the Owen lab, I develop novel neuroimaging techniques that assess residual cognition, conscious awareness, and communication in VS and other patients with disorders of consciousness. These are active and passive tests for mapping out sensory (i.e., audition, vision) and higher-order brain functions (i.e., selective attention) in these patients. In collaboration with the Rotman Institute of Philosophy, my work also explores the ethical implications of using neuroimaging to detect conscious awareness and communicate with patients who are misdiagnosed as VS.
My overarching aim is to offer new insights in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with disorders of consciousness that may improve the practice of medicine and standard of care for this patient group.
Publications
Guger, C., Noirhomme, Q., Naci, L., Real, R., Lugo, Z., Veser, S., Sorger, B., Quitadamo, L., Lesenfants, D., Risetti, M., Formisano, R., Toppi, J., Astolfi, L., Emmerling, T., Erlbeck, H., Monti, M. M., Kotchoubey, B., Bianchi, L., Mattia, D., Goebel, R., Owen, A. M., Pellas, F., Müller-Putz, G., Kübler, A. Brain-computer interfaces for coma assessment and communication. Emerging Theory and Practice in Neuroprosthetics; ed. Ganesh R Naik, IGIGLOBAL Press 2013.
Naci, L., Owen, A. M. Making every word count for vegetative patients. Submitted.
Naci, L., Cusack, R., Jia, Z., V., Owen, M. A. The brain’s silent messenger – using selective attention to decode human thought for brain-based communication. Journal of Neuroscience. In press.
Peterson, A., Naci, L., Weijer, C., Owen A. M. A principled argument, but not a practical one. AJOB Neuroscience 2013; 4(1), 1–2 . Download
Peterson, A., Naci, L., Cruse, C., Fernández-Espejo, E., Graham, M., Weijer, C., Owen, A. O. Assessing decision making capacity in the disorder of consciousness patient. Submitted.
Graham, M., Weijer, C., Peterson, A., Naci, L., Cruse, C., Fernández-Espejo, E., Owen, A. O. The right to know: informing families of individual research results for patients in vegetative states. Submitted.
Naci, L., Monti, M. M., Cruse, D., Sorger, B., Rainer, G., A., Kotchoubey, B., Kubler. A, Owen, A. M. Brain computer interfaces for communication with non-responsive patients. Ann Neurol 2012; 72(3), 312–23. Download
Naci, L., Cusack, R., Taylor, K., Tyler, L. K. Are the senses enough for sense? Recurrent high-level feedback shapes our comprehension of multisensory objects. Front Integr Neurosci 2012. Download
Cusack, R., Veldsman, M., Naci, L., Mitchell, D. J., Linke, A. Seeing different objects in different ways: measuring ventral visual tuning to sensory and semantic features with dynamically adaptive imaging. Hum Brain Mapp 2012; 33(2), 387–97. Download
Covington, M., He, C., Brown, C., Naci, L., Brown, J. How complex is that sentence? A proposed revision of the Rosenberg and Abbeduto D-Level scale. Research Report, 2006. Artificial Intelligence Center, University of Georgia. Download
Covington, M., He, C., Brown, C., Naci, L., McClain, T., Fjordbak, B., Semple, J., Brown, J. Schizophrenia and the structure of language: The linguist’s view. Schizophrenia Research 2005; 77(1), 85–98.
