The Brain As Storyteller

In the mid-20th century, some folks with intractable epilepsy underwent heroic surgery to separate the two halves of the brain by cutting the corpus callosum. What was remarkable was that, at first, nothing seemed very different about them. But after interviewing them, some clever researchers came up with some interesting experiments to see what had changed. One experiment, in particular, tells us a lot about how we construct our sense of self.

Transcript

In the mid-20th century,

Some folks with intractable epilepsy underwent a heroic surgical procedure.

The two halves of their brain were separated.

The corpus callosum,

The fiber of axons that connects the left and right hemisphere,

Was severed.

This was in order to prevent the spread of an epileptic seizure from one hemisphere to the other,

Which would have killed them.

At this time,

There was no other solution that would have saved their lives.

The surprising thing was that at first,

There didn't seem to be much of a change.

But after interviewing them,

Some clever scientists came up with some interesting experiments to figure out what was actually going on.

One experiment in particular tells us a lot about how we construct our sense of self.

In this experiment,

A person with a split brain was shown two images,

One to their left hemisphere and one to their right.

Now you should know that it is the left hemisphere that is responsible for producing language.

This is critical.

Also,

That the left hemisphere controls the right side of the body and the right hemisphere controls the left side of the body.

This person was shown two images,

One to their left hemifield and one to their right hemifield,

Meaning that the right hemisphere processed the left image and the left hemisphere processed the right image.

The person was shown a sketch of a chicken foot and a snowy field to the left and right hemispheres respectively.

They were then shown a set of pictures and asked to point with their left hand to which picture associated with what they saw.

The left hand,

Controlled by the right hemisphere,

Which saw the snowy field,

Pointed to a snow shovel.

They were then asked why they picked what they picked.

The left hemisphere,

Having seen the chicken foot in their left hand point to the snow shovel,

Said without hesitation to clean out the chicken shed.

They did not say,

I don't know,

Or,

That's strange.

The brain immediately came up with an explanation.

This is how the brain works all the time.

This is not pathological behavior.

It's just pathological circumstances.

The brain is always coming up with stories to explain our behavior.

That's simply how it works.

Reviews

I get the jist. However I seem to have a blank, like I can't conjure up the picture your telling in time. I would need visual aids to help me! Or Id have to listen to it 30 times so I could easily draw what i am imaging... What does that say about my brain?
TIA
💚🤓🧚‍♂️

Fill in the blank. Interesting 🤔 thank you

Love this teacher's talks

Interesting. I suffer from epilepsy so I’m always needing to understand more and what I can do to help it.

Wow! I could definitely hear more on this topic. Fascinating!!