Is it true that if you split th brain in half...?

Question

Is it true that if you split th brain in half, and the left and right hemispheres were seperate, you would live with like two seperate minds Ex like one hand could slap you while the other is picking up a book

Answer 1

You've pretty much got it right. The two halves of the brain are connected by a thick band of neuron pathways called the corpus callosum. This enables the left and right hemispheres to coordinate with each other.

Sometimes when a person has an extreme form of epilepsy and suffers from radical grand mal seizures, damage to self and brain are possible. So to stop seizures from cascading from one side of the brain to the other, brain surgeons cut the corpus callosum in two, thereby separating the two sides of the brain.

It is not a lobotomy, because no lobes are removed. A lobotomy is a different procedure. This procedure is called a corpus callosectomy. The result is diminishment or even stopping the seizures altogether. But the person's experience is changed forever...very much the way you describe it. The person can detect something in the left visual field (goes to the right side of the brain) but the person can't name the object (language resides on the left side of the brain). It's an interesting handicap, but they can still function, though not at a high level.

Answer 2

The answer about lobotomies is not quite right. A lobotomy involves cutting the connections between the lobes of the prefrontal cortex area of the brain, or directly destroying the prefrontal cortex. You are not separating the entire brain into two halves. A lobotomy results in personality changes generally perceived as flattened emotional response and detachment. In the past this was considered a desirable outcome for manic or difficult mental patients.

There have been recorded instances of strokes or other types of brain damage that have resulted in communication between the brain hemispheres being entirely cut off. In these cases, there has been some interesting evidence that each hemisphere can think independently. For instance, reading: The patient is reading a book, or ratherl, the left hemisphere is reading, and the right hemisphere gets bored (because it doesn't read!), so it causes the left hand to reach over and push the book away! Things like this are very unusual, but have been documented.

However, this does NOT mean that split-brain patients developed "two personalities" or anything like that, which is a manifestation of an entirely different problem, a schizophrenic mental disorder.

Answer 3

Lobotomies were fairly popular some number of years ago--I think that is the disconnection of the connecting nerve tissue between the two brain lobe spheres. JFK's sister, Rosemary was perceived to be a behavioral problem by the father, and SHE was given a lobotomy as a teenager, I think!!! Basically, I have the impression that that just creates a semi-vegetative, very malleable state of existence!! She certainly gave them no problems thereafter!

Answer 4

No. Splitting the brain in half is done very rarely and it would not be like living with two seperate minds.