Consciousness what is it?

Scientists at Lige in Europe, under the direction of Steven Laureys, are researching what makes us conscious.  People that  are in all kinds of different states of consciousness, mostly comatose, are sent to what part of the brain lights up or doesn't.  They look for areas that can respond to stimulus.  There are of course different levels of consciousness, even thought it does not result in a muscle response. 
There are two different levels of consciousness, external and internal.  The external lies in the sensory network and the internal is our self-consciousness.  When someone is comatose, neither of these systems are operating correctly.  If there is no response to pain, commands, sounds this does not mean that the patient is unconscious.  They could have damage in the motor cortex of the brain. 
When a patient has been evaluated at this institute, which involves many different levels of experience of consciousness, they can learn to communicate again by the use of trans-cranial direct stimulation.  This can stimulate direct areas of the brain and so communication can be achieved.

LENS can help the brain to achieve it's highest level of functioning.