Posted by Ganz
on May 6, 2005, 3:54 am
58.70.7.17
Your notes on alien hand syndrome were very interesting. However, the fact that those who've had their two hemispheres cut apart experience two separate entities doesn't not mean that normal brains have two personalities. (Nor, by extension if the brain were split further and similar efects were seen does each division mean a separate personality.) As a simple example, a water drop can be split into two (or more) water drops but that doesn't mean that two (or more) water drops coexisted in the first undivided drop. Similarly, many neurologists these days believe we have one personality spread across two hemispheres and that splitting them causes each side to set up a separate entity. (Whether each can be called a "personality" depends on the definition of personality.) This misunderstanding has been magnified in all kinds of pop psychology with speculative results ranging from curious to absurd. The personality is probably spread throughout the brain and damaging or separating any part can result in unusual behavior, depending on the nature of the division or separation.
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