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How researchers discovered we have “two brains” [video]

bbc.com

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Re: How researchers discovered we have “two brains” [video]

#41

Post by pygy_ »

xtagon wrote: post #20
nwatson wrote: post #13

The video doesn't portray the left-vs-right correctly. As the person and screens are set up in the video, the left and right eye both experience the left and right images presented on either side of the point-of-fixation. However, the video portrays all information from left eye going to right brain, and all information from right eye going to the left brain ... that's not how it happens ... ... rather, the left-hemi…

So it works the same whether you have one or both eyes open? That's intriguing

Yes, and you lose a hemi-field in both eyes if you have a stroke in the visual cortex on one side of the brain.

Central vision is preserved though, because the fovea projects to both hemispheres.

Re: How researchers discovered we have “two brains” [video]

#42

Post by azeirah »

devoply wrote: post #10
corysama wrote: post #2

Common human behavior is a lot more schizophrenic than any of us are comfortable with understanding. I recommend the book "Hare Brain Tortoise Mind" to everyone who will listen. It explains one form of multi-mindedness that leads to you getting your best insights while in the shower --what it's good at and what it's not. "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat" is another classic.

schizophrenia in japan is called integration disorder. meaning the many different parts of the mind, or many minds, are not integrating into a single mind.

That's slightly odd to me, that description sounds like it would better for a dissociative disorder.

Re: How researchers discovered we have “two brains” [video]

#44

Post by goodmachine »

sago wrote: post #16
Simon_says wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think it can be useful to think of 'god' that way (as in the will of god, the desires of god, the thoughts of god), as much as a corporation, a culture, a nation. That does not sound useful in the slightest.

Do you mean 'god' as a synonym of theistic-religion groupthink? The idea of religious groupthink? Or the idea of groupthink in any context?

Bold move to mention 'god' on HN. I think the analogy is striking (therefore at least rhetorically useful) in the sense that it challenges the idea of ourselves merely ending where our bodies do.

Socialisation and attendant technologies suggest otherwise: there's plenty of 'me' which is opaque to me, of me that precedes me, of me that derived from other minds. 'I' may even reside briefly in other minds, such as (trivially) in the form of this comment.

The more we look at how individuals are structured from somatic to social levels, the less convincing the notion of individuality becomes.

Re: How researchers discovered we have “two brains” [video]

#46

Post by dwighttk »

corysama wrote: post #2

Common human behavior is a lot more schizophrenic than any of us are comfortable with understanding. I recommend the book "Hare Brain Tortoise Mind" to everyone who will listen. It explains one form of multi-mindedness that leads to you getting your best insights while in the shower --what it's good at and what it's not. "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat" is another classic.

Does Hare Brain Tortoise Mind talk about the same things that Thinking, Fast and Slow calls system one and two?

Re: How researchers discovered we have “two brains” [video]

#47

Post by vanderZwan »

pygy_ wrote: post #41
xtagon wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So it works the same whether you have one or both eyes open? That's intriguing

Yes, and you lose a hemi-field in both eyes if you have a stroke in the visual cortex on one side of the brain. Central vision is preserved though, because the fovea projects to both hemispheres.

> Yes, and you lose a hemi-field in both eyes if you have a stroke in the visual cortex on one side of the brain.

In my case the aura of my migraines (that I thankfully only had during puberty) were limited to the left hemi-field. Which I guess suggests that the migraine was "centered" in the right brain hemisphere.

Re: How researchers discovered we have “two brains” [video]

#48

Post by sago »

goodmachine wrote: post #44
sago wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean 'god' as a synonym of theistic-religion groupthink? The idea of religious groupthink? Or the idea of groupthink in any context?

Bold move to mention 'god' on HN. I think the analogy is striking (therefore at least rhetorically useful) in the sense that it challenges the idea of ourselves merely ending where our bodies do. Socialisation and attendant technologies suggest otherwise: there's plenty of 'me' which is opaque to me, of me that precedes me, of me that derived from other minds. 'I' may even reside briefly in other minds, such as (triv…

Probably also a dumb move, since it was incidental to my point, and probably skips a crucial argument step. Oh well.

I definitely agree with your last sentence. And this can be as simple as the idea, often observed, that someone 'lives on' in the minds of their loved ones after death. For me that is entirely non supernatural or mystical. As you say (and nicely phrased) our identity is a function of everything from the somatic to the social level.

Re: How researchers discovered we have “two brains” [video]

#49

Post by ZeroFries »

sago wrote: post #11

It seems rather intuitive to me. Our brain is composed of neurons. Different subsets seem to have more or less specialised functions. Any subset can be seen as it own 'thinker'. We think of them as larger units based mostly on the amount of communication / how independently they can function. Sometimes it is helpful to think of our mind as been made of many smaller 'thinkers'. Though there is no crisp boundary, every…

This works to some extent, but does not account for consciousness. A mind, at the very least a moment of experience, is a coherent whole. Your left and right visual fields are bound together. Thinking of neurons as entirely discrete units makes the binding problem insoluble.

Re: How researchers discovered we have “two brains” [video]

#50

Post by [deleted] »

x3n0ph3n3 wrote: post #6
maddyboo wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another interesting read is “The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind” by Julian Jaynes, which outlines hypothesis of bicameralism [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameralism_(psychology)

The hypothesis of bicameralism is mostly debunked, though.

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