Beneficial Effects of Preference on Behavior in DOC Patients (COGNICOMA)

Beneficial Effects of Preference on Behavior

Preferred music improves cognitive function in patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC). However, it is still unknown whether it is a general effect of music (because of its acoustic features) or an autobiographical effect (because of its emotional and meaningful contents).

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of sensory modality (auditory versus olfactory) and preference (preferred versus neutral) of the testing context on the performance of four items from the coma recovery scale-revised

Inclusion Criteria:

• Disorders of consciousness (Traumatic brain injury, stroke or anoxic encephalopathy)
• Coma diagnosis (Plum and Posner, 1966), vegetative state (Task Force, 1994) or minimally conscious state (Giacino, Ashwal et al. 2002)
• Lack of autonomic crisis since one week minimum
• Medical condition considered stable
• Patients who do not present hearing loss. Peaks I and II of Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potentials (BAEP) will be normal.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Hearing Problem
• Uncontrolled Epilepsy
• Autonomic crises
• Medical unstable state
• Pregnant or likely to be (interrogation data) or breastfeeding woman