Now on ScienceBlogs: A study that oversells massage therapy

ScienceBlogs Book Club: Inside the Outbreaks

Omni Brain

An exploration of the serious/fun/ridiculous - past/present/future of the brain and the science that loves it.

The Homunculus

steve_icon_medium.jpgSteve Higgins is sometimes a Psychologist, sometimes a Neuroscientist, and sometimes even a Human Factors Engineer. He works for the U.S. Government. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in Psychology.

Search

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

Archives

Blogroll


Bloggers' Rights at EFF


Openlab 2007


Glial Cells

Access Omni Brain mobile here.

Access Omni Brain email here.

Axons

« The hardest DUI test ever - Multimedia Friday | Main | Brain Transplant Joke »

The Life of a Split Brain Patient

Category: BiologyNeurosciencePsychologyVideo
Posted on: February 9, 2008 11:01 AM, by The Omnibrain

To reduce the severity of his seizures, Joe had the bridge between his left and right cerebral hemispheres (the corpus callosum) severed. As a result, his left and right brains no longer communicate through that pathway. Here's what happens as a result:
Share on Facebook
Share on StumbleUpon
Share on Facebook

TrackBacks

TrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/63642

Comments

1

I heard about this years ago in a psychology class. There was a specific example of two very disparate things shown to the two different eyes. I wish I could remember the example, because at the end when the person tested was asked why the hand drew one thing but he said another with his voice, he gave a completely rational explanation as to why his hand might have drawn something that didn't seem to fit.

What the neuroscientist here describes as the last step that has to generate a consistent theory of what's going on in our mind is what I call the "bullshit generator," that tries to rationalize why all the product of all our vaguely independent subsystems or agents are "really" consistently after all. "Really, I'm an individual!"

Posted by: Rob Knop | February 10, 2008 3:27 PM

2

This makes me wonder what other people would do if they were presented with the dilemma of either one condition or another to live with. If a doctor said to you that you have a life threatening condition, would you be willing to live as this man does instead? I'm sure it would be tremendously confusing for him.

Posted by: Sophie Hirschfeld | February 11, 2008 6:19 AM

Post a Comment

(Email is required for authentication purposes only. On some blogs, comments are moderated for spam, so your comment may not appear immediately.)





ScienceBlogs

Search ScienceBlogs:

Go to:

Advertisement
Follow ScienceBlogs on Twitter

© 2006-2011 ScienceBlogs LLC. ScienceBlogs is a registered trademark of ScienceBlogs LLC. All rights reserved.