Strange but True: When Half a Brain Is Better than a Whole One

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Strange but True: When Half a Brain Is Better than a Whole One

by Charles Choi

Scientific American

May 24, 2007

This article really gives me the heebie-jeebies, but I am glad science has this capability. Also, this leads to some interesting speculations about mind, brain, evolution and metaphysics. From the article:

The operation known as hemispherectomy—where half the brain is removed—sounds too radical to ever consider, much less perform. In the last century, however, surgeons have performed it hundreds of times for disorders uncontrollable in any other way. Unbelievably, the surgery has no apparent effect on personality or memory.

I can also see the jokes coming.

(Hat tip to Michael Prescott for this link.)

Michael

[Chris Grieb]

Some people seem to using only half a brain already. This maybe no great change.

[BAMF]

Well, none of us are using our entire brain.

[BaalChatzaf]

Well, none of us are using our entire brain.

That is a commonly held canard. The entire brain is put use, but not all at the same instant. If there were synapses that were not used at all they would literally decompose.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Danneskjold]

I saw a House episode like this. This guy was simultaneously a retard and a musical genius. He was also sick. They fixed the sickness and found out that half his brain was literally dead or dying and was impeding the other side of his brain. So they took out half of it (unfortunately it was the musical half) and he became a normally functioning human being without the musical genius.

[James Heaps-Nelson]

Sometimes they do this surgery in children for uncontrollable grand mal epileptic seizures. Sometimes they can just cut a few strands of the corpus callosum.

Jim

[BAMF]

Well, none of us are using our entire brain.

That is a commonly held canard. The entire brain is put use, but not all at the same instant. If there were synapses that were not used at all they would literally decompose.

Ba'al Chatzaf

There you go shattering everything I knew to be true...everything I learned in high school. Why, god, whyyy?! Heehee.

[Philip Coates]

> The entire brain is put use, but not all at the same instant. If there were synapses that were not used at all they would literally decompose.

Baal, do you have any reference or source for this, where one can check if this is true and find out more about it?

[BaalChatzaf]

> The entire brain is put use, but not all at the same instant. If there were synapses that were not used at all they would literally decompose.

Baal, do you have any reference or source for this, where one can check if this is true and find out more about it?

google <brain "use it or lose it">.

Lots of articles there.

Bob Kolker

[BAMF]

Thanks, Bob.

Here's the direct link: The Brain: Use It Or Lose It