Neurosurgeons find small brain region that turns consciousness on and off, like the key in a car's ignition

The 54-year-old epilepsy patient - her name remains concealed to protect her privacy - was lying on the operating table while surgeons explored inside her brain with electrodes. They were looking for the source of her epileptic seizures. Suddenly, after they applied electricity to a small region, buried deep, near the front of the brain, the woman froze and her eyes went blank. She was awake, but entirely unresponsive.The precise area the surgeons had zapped included a sliver of tissue known as the claustrum.



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