Do hemispherectomies prove that consciousness does not reside just in the brain?

1. 74

   Oztinatoposted 8 years ago

   Do hemispherectomies prove that consciousness does not reside just in the brain?
   
   Doctors are removing half of the brains of people suffering chronic seizures to cure the patient!
   The patient retains their full faculties and personality.
   
   

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2. 72

   ptosisposted 8 years ago

   
   
   Between 1985 and 1997, there were 20 hemispherectomies. Plasticity of the brain vs  rigidly localized does not infer that there must be a spirit consciousness. Although you gut has as many neurons as a cat's brain. Cat's can't talk, but we all know that 'gut feeling' that we can't vocalize.
   
   "Retired FBI profiler Mary E. O’Toole who co-wrote the book, 'Dangerous Instincts: How Gut Instincts Betray Us', who said that gut instincts can put us in dangerous situations by trusting somebody that should not be trusted. Bundy said that the Green River Killer was trusted by his victims because he did not fit the profile" - http://hub.me/adTsn
   
   "In the book “Who's in Charge?”, author Michael Gazzaniga says that our brain's parallel processing is like a committee, there is no head honcho. Unlike in the movie “The Matrix”, there is no Architect - only the Interpreter. Our brains are a convention of contending delegates from which our self identity emerges greater that the sum of individual parts." - http://hub.me/a63En
   
   "… Each hemisphere in P. S. has a sense of self, and each possesses its own system for subjectively evaluating current events, planning for future events, setting response priorities, and generating personal responses" - http://www.uncommondescent.com/intellig … -part-two/

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   1. 74

      Oztinatoposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Certain things don't add up about the brain. For example a tiny brain clot can end a life but there are cases of people who take a bullet or spike thru the brain who live long lives

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3. 61

   Dr CHE Sadaphalposted 8 years ago

   Do hemispherectomies prove? No.
   
   The fact is, different areas of the brain serve different functions. In order to prove the hypothesis posed by the question, neuroscience would have to map consciousness to a specific area of the brain and then demonstrate that removal/damage to that area would alter consciousness. Consciousness has not been mapped to a physical, biochemical brain function and remains "mysterious." (See Free Will by Sam Harris).

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   1. 74

      Oztinatoposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I'm just curious about this topic.
      For example dementia patients lose far less of their brain than hemispherectomies but lose huge slabs of consciousness etc

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4. 83

   tamarawilhiteposted 8 years ago

   No, because:
   * they still have most of the brain left
   * those with severe seizures tended to have brain functions move from malfunctioning tissue to other tissue so what was removed wasn't as important
   * even with the diseased tissue removed, they aren't at 100% functioning compared to the average person

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   1. 74

      Oztinatoposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      How much of the brain can be removed before the personality disappears? There are pics avaiable of people with most of the brain gone but they keep their identity intact and chat normally.

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