Anesthetized brain still processes language and predicts words, study finds

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine used Neuropixels probes to record hippocampal neuron activity in patients under general anesthesia. The unconscious brain distinguished word categories (nouns, verbs, adjectives) and carried information predicting upcoming words in a sentence, and showed signs of neural plasticity when reacting to unexpected tones. The findings were published in Nature.

• Neuropixels probes recorded hundreds of hippocampal neurons during epilepsy surgery under anesthesia
• The unconscious brain distinguished nouns, verbs and adjectives in played stories
• Neural activity carried information that predicted upcoming words in sentences
• Hippocampus improved at spotting unexpected tones over time, indicating plasticity