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When you split the brain, do you split the person?

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Re: When you split the brain, do you split the person?

#11

Post by lucozade »

> the current understanding seems to only deepen the mystery of consciousness

Not sure I understand that.

What they appear to have established is that, if you sever the direct connection between the two brain halves, functions that required the direct communication between the two halves is impaired.

I mean, it's interesting to note what those functions are and the severity of the impairment. But there doesn't appear to be any effect on consciousness at all; at least not in the article's description of the effects. Am I missing something?

Re: When you split the brain, do you split the person?

#13

Post by d33 »

have_faith wrote: post #9

> But without the corpus callosum the hemispheres have virtually no means of exchanging information They can communicate physically though. Each half of the brain can access the eyes and control various parts of the body, they could make the body do things that they could see/hear in order to act as a basic messaging channel. The conscious part of the brain could be completely oblivious to these subtle physical chann…

Not sure what would be the evolutionary purpose of that. I doubt that many of our ancestors survived brain split and managed to reproduce in order to pass the genes, so having that feature would probably mean it's necessary for something else... sounds like a long shot for me though.

Re: When you split the brain, do you split the person?

#14

Post by vortico »

Aardwolf wrote: post #2

> The brain is perhaps the most complex machine in the Universe Do you really know what's there in the entire universe?

Yeah, I just checked. It's definitely the most complex. Well, other than the thing in Nebula VOQ 34E, but that's a given.

Re: When you split the brain, do you split the person?

#15

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

d33 wrote: post #13
have_faith wrote: post #9

> But without the corpus callosum the hemispheres have virtually no means of exchanging information They can communicate physically though. Each half of the brain can access the eyes and control various parts of the body, they could make the body do things that they could see/hear in order to act as a basic messaging channel. The conscious part of the brain could be completely oblivious to these subtle physical chann…

Not sure what would be the evolutionary purpose of that. I doubt that many of our ancestors survived brain split and managed to reproduce in order to pass the genes, so having that feature would probably mean it's necessary for something else... sounds like a long shot for me though.

I think what is being suggested is not that it is a special function that only occurs in the case of the corpus callosum being split, but that these other communication channels are always operating regardless and the corpus callosum is specialized channel for certain kinds of information. Speculating based on the article, one would suspect that it allows for fast integration of visual information, but that other integrations rely on other, probably slower, channels.

Re: When you split the brain, do you split the person?

#18

Post by mfoy_ »

lucozade wrote: post #11

> the current understanding seems to only deepen the mystery of consciousness Not sure I understand that. What they appear to have established is that, if you sever the direct connection between the two brain halves, functions that required the direct communication between the two halves is impaired. I mean, it's interesting to note what those functions are and the severity of the impairment. But there doesn't appear…

I think that's the point. The previous work referenced in the article seemed to indicate something much MUCH more profound.

Re: When you split the brain, do you split the person?

#19

Post by mfoy_ »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #12

>How does a brain, consisting of many modules, create just one person? The same way a population, consisting of many people, creates just one state? The state is not the people and the people are not the state, yet both exist.

I am not my neurons, my neurons are not me, but my identity is driven by those neurons.

Exactly... a non-mystery. But a great example of "the whole being greater than the sum of its parts".

Re: When you split the brain, do you split the person?

#20

Post by Cthulhu_ »

Aardwolf wrote: post #2

> The brain is perhaps the most complex machine in the Universe Do you really know what's there in the entire universe?

What do we know of the world and the universe about us? Our means of receiving impressions are absurdly few, and our notions of surrounding objects infinitely narrow. We see things only as we are constructed to see them, and can gain no idea of their absolute nature. With five feeble senses we pretend to comprehend the boundlessly complex cosmos, yet other beings with wider, stronger, or different range of senses might not only see very differently the things we see, but might see and study whole worlds of matter, energy, and life which lie close at hand yet can never be detected with the senses we have.
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