[Rebel_Ace]

While I get your point, the text you cite is not that reassuring to me.

"...each produces a distinct pattern of activity, in the premotor cortex for the first task and the parahippocampal gyrus for the second... It allowed the researchers to put a series of yes or no questions to severely brain-injured patients..."

This is what I see playing out:

"Oh, THAT pattern is not 'distinct' enough, I judge it to be a 'No'."

"Oh, THAT pattern IS 'distinct' enough, I judge it to be a 'Yes'."

Not as unambiguous as a Hand Squeeze or Eye Blink.

[wideminded]

Not as unambiguous as a Hand Squeeze or Eye Blink.

Since we haven't seen the real data from the experiment, we can't really say. Maybe the difference between the two patterns is as persuasive as having a traffic light rigged up to the patient's brain. If the doctors publish their exact protocol in a peer-reviewed journal, other scientists and doctors will have an opportunity to propose alternate explanations for the data, if any are possible.

You could say that one weak hand squeeze is meaningful and another is just an involuntary reflex. Same for blinking.