News Neuroscience

A tiny part of your brain may still listen under anesthesia

The findings suggest that consciousness may not be required for complex brain tasks

A mask representing anesthesia for the brain

In seven patients under anesthesia, recordings of individual neurons in one brain region suggest that consciousness isn't required for nuanced decoding of speech and sound.

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By Nora Bradford

General anesthesia shuts off conscious awareness, but what do our brains process while we’re under?

Individual neurons in a brain region known for its role in memory consolidation can detect unexpected sounds, decode the nuances of language and even predict upcoming word types in a sentence, all while a patient is fully anesthetized, researchers report May 6 in Nature.