TEPs recorded in VS patients, MCS patients and healthy controls (grand average of five individuals).

<p>The figure presents the TEPs recorded from C3 and C4 following stimulation of the left or right M1 in VS (left insert) and MCS patients (right insert). The right lower part of the figure indicates the grand average TEPs obtained in five healthy controls stimulated above the left primary motor cortex (M1; C3). For all patients and the control group, the presented TEPs were recorded from the closest electrode to the hot-spot (ipsilateral to TMS – red line) and from the corresponding electrode on the contralateral hemisphere (black line). The hot-spot is indicated with a black dot. The responses obtained during the sham condition were point-by-point subtracted from those obtained during the real TMS. The significant time-windows (i.e., EEG signal exceeding three times the standard deviation of the pre-stimulus activity for at least 20 ms) are separately indicated for the ipsilateral electrode with a horizontal red line and for the electrodes contralateral to the TMS hot-spot with a black line.