Kim peek brain scan8/22/2023 ![]() They once interviewed a young participant named Paul S who had two fully functional speech centers in his brain – which allowed them to question the left and right brain separately. Gazzaniga and Sperry’s research is now legendary. However, with a proper science experiment sensory inputs can be controlled and it reveals the existence of two different personalities in the same person! Not to mention the whole network of sensory neurons along our body that are responsible for the sense of touch. We have two eyes which supply optical information, two ears and the sense of smell is governed by both halves. Most patients who undergo a callasotomy lead perfectly normal lives – this is expected as the two half of our brains receive nearly the same input anyway. Split brain experiments are really creepy The key takeaway point is that brains are highly adaptable and when there are anomalies, they often make new neural connections that allow people to function normally. The man reportedly lead a pretty normal life. There was a famous case of a french man who barely had 10% brain tissue but had a normal life and had an IQ of 75, which is lower than the average of 100 but is not classified as mental retardation. There are even people who function normally with very little brain tissue who seemingly lead normal lives. Some people even have speech centers on both halves of the brain. There are complications though, Left handed people often have the speech center on the right side of the brain. To simplify, while it is not true that the brain has totally exclusive sections for different functions, there are neuronal sections which correspond to certain functions in humans ( For example, Broca’s and Wenicke’s areas found in the left brain correspond to speech in most normal human beings ). Although the macrostructure of the two hemispheres appears to be almost identical, different composition of neuronal networks allows for specialized function that is different in each hemisphere. The medial longitudinal fissure separates the human brain into two distinct cerebral hemispheres, connected by the corpus callosum. The lateralization of brain function is the tendency for some neural functions or cognitive processes to be specialized to one side of the brain or the other. Quoting the Wikipedia article on Lateralization of brain function However, as with many other things the above myth is rooted in a kernel of truth. Furthermore, the distinction over what is logical vs what is creative is a very fuzzy one – who can say that mathematics does not require a degree of creativity? This is most certainly not true, fMRI studies have been done and the entirety of the brain is involved to a degree in all tasks we do. Several self help books have been published on the subject and it is said that the left half of the brain is the analytic half which controls things like mathematics, science and logical thinking while the right side is more ‘artsy’ and logical. In pop culture, Its common to see that people are described as being ‘left brained’ and ‘right brained’. The Brain has dedicated regions, but not quite Image credits: ![]() In this, the right half of the brain (referred from here as right brain) which controls the left leg and left hand acts independently of the left brain which controls the other two limbs. Their research showed that patients who had undergone a complete callosotomy suffered from a condition known as split brain syndrome. Sperry, who had diagnosed Karen’s condition (he later tragically died from a mental ailment himself) worked with Micheal Gazzaniga and were the first people to study split brains. And it did cure Karen of her epileptic seizures but it left her with a whole different problem – the split brain. Most patients seemed to lead normal lives, one doctor even remarked that ‘the function of the corpus callosum seems to be to spread seizures from one side of the brain to another‘. Indeed this was not an unusual procedure at the time. The procedure known as ‘ corpus callosotomy‘ involved severing the band of fibrous tissue that connected both halves of the brain. Karen had suffered from epilepsy since she was 10 and at 27, had undergone a drastic procedure to reduce her seizures. “So I started rebuttoning with the right hand and as soon as I stopped, the left hand started unbottoning them”. ![]() Until he said that, I had no idea that my left hand was opening up the buttons of my shirt. Dr O’Connor said “Karen what are you doing? your hand is undressing you”.
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