Split Brain Does Not Lead to Split Consciousness • Hacker News Board

Re: Split Brain Does Not Lead to Split Consciousness

#111

Post by Pica_soO » Sun, Jan 29, 2017, 12:40 PM UTC

YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #107

c3534l wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The same goes for his powers of recall (it's a parlour trick and something you can train at) except it's also possible to fake it, in the way I suggest above, because nobody really keeps that sort of fact handy and they'll probably not be given the time to check. Also, yes they do. They absolutely did that with Kim Peek. People investigated him with lists of such facts at hand. > Right off the bat, the very fact th…

That's what's on wikipedia. Why am I absolutely required to know who Kim Peek was? Because they based a film on him, and it sold well? Also, for the love of god, listen to yourself. People "tested" him with lists of facts? And you don't think it's even remotely possible that those people were planted in the audience? There is even a word for that thing: the people who do that are called "shills" [1]. In popular shows…

Question all the things. Question the Reason of Questioning. Honestly, if nothing on earth convinces you, and everything is just one huge collaborate conspiracy to invent a mentally retarded guy, who worked like a info vending machine. I have one final question. If such a savant exists, would you travel to his location and question him in person? For this unreasonable burden of proof you demand, would you carry that stone yourself, even if it is so heavy that god can not lift it?

Re: Split Brain Does Not Lead to Split Consciousness

#112

Post by chei0iaV » Mon, Jan 30, 2017, 12:52 AM UTC

YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #78

xg15 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it so important that the person check the facts the instant the demonstration is done as opposed to taking the time and checking them later (e.g. by going to a newspaper's archive)?

Because by the time you get the opportunity to verify the accuracy of the "recall", it's too late to challenge the mentalist about it. That's how those tricks (when they're tricks) work. Imagine it like this: say you're at some mentalist's show, and she picks you out of the crowd. She asks you your birthdate, you tell her, she concentrates (silence in the audience) then suddendly she starts riffing off headlines from…

So you're saying no one, not the scientists, not the interviewers, had an idea to look up a specific date and then ask him about it? Or to pick a random number from the phone book he memorized and see if he can recall the name?

You're not providing a convincing argument as to why such scepticism is at all warranted. If this was an account of a guy from a few hundred years ago, sure it might make sense to doubt it. But this guy was alive just over 7 years ago...

Re: Split Brain Does Not Lead to Split Consciousness

#113

Post by mattkrause » Mon, Jan 30, 2017, 5:07 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #7

How does a brain split operation work exactly? Do they put a barrier between the two halves? Otherwise, I would expect that signals could still propagate: cut two nerves, then push them together, and I can imagine that a signal can still pass through; if not always, then in a percentage of cases.

Since I didn't quite answer your question before, the two hemispheres of the cortex are surprisingly independent. However, there's a big "interconnect" in the middle called the corpus callosum, which is a bundle of axons that cross from one hemisphere to another. It's fairly easy to find on an MRI--it's the elongated u-shaped object with the labels on it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_callosum#/media/File:Co... (The labels indicate different parts of it).

For patients with really severe epilepsy (where the seizueres are causing slips and falls), one possible treatment is to cut this bundle to prevent the epileptic activity from spreading across both hemispheres. You basically just slice through them with a knife. Since neurons are very small and delicate, it's extremely unlikely that the membranes (essentially drops of oil) would reform in a way that would permit them to carry information.

Since the corpus callosum contains most of the inter-hemispheric connections, cutting it is often sufficient to prevent the siezure from spreading (and also to produce weird split-brain phenomena). However, there are a few other locations where there are cross-hemispheric connections. The anterior and posterior commissure are two other "interconnects." There may also some much more indirect interactions through subcortical structures.