Thread: The left & right Brain topics

Dreaming: Right vs. Left Brain
Left - right- or ambidextrous?

I have recently read about a study that was done with people that had their right and left brain connection severed. That connection is made by neural bridges called commissures, the largest being the corpus callosum.
While we know that the right brain controls the left side and visa versa. But both control upper arm movements.
The inventive & interpreting left hemisphere has a concious expieriance very different than that of thetruthful,literal right brain. Both can be viewed as concious but the left brain conciousness far surpasses that of the right.

When being compared to primates are brains are virtually identical in application. However they have found that the regions that we exel beyond primates may have been a part of evolution through which our left hemishere gained language & speech. Somthing than our brains created rather than having already posessed.

did the study conclude anything about the effect severing the brain had on dreams?

To better understand this concept completely, one must understand the functions of the brain. To summarize it:

Left Hemisphere:
- Language
- Logic
- Interpretation
- Arithmatic

Right Hemisphere:
- Geometry
- Nonverbal processes
- Visual pattern recognition
- Auditory discrimination
- Spatial skills

(From The Brain, Pierce J. Howard, Ph.D., Center For Applied Cognitive Studies)

One most also understand that the brain interacts with it's milieu by utilizing every aspect of the brain. Both hemisphere's are necessary for complete and comprehensive experience. Otherwise, you brink onto alexithymia. Alexithymia dictates that an emotional response is complete if the person is able to (1) to experience emotional feelings (2) to differentiate between various emotional feelings (3) to verbalize his or her emotional feelings (4) to reflect and to some extent analyze these feelings or (5) to fantasize about them. (Reference). Of course this is arguable but logically makes sense.

The term "Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum" defines when there is a abnormal space or complete absence of hemisphere communication. Because of this miscommunication, individuals with ACC will suffer seizures and essential ataxia (loss of the ability to coordinate muscle movement). This causes problems with walking, eating, breathing, articulating, etc. Also, there may be impaired visual and auditory memory (or lack thereof). Worst of all, it is very possible for hydrocephaly to occurr. Hydrocephaly is the abnormal collection of fluid within the missing spaces that may destroy much neural tissue and caues mental disorders. Since ACC is most commonly congenital, there is a great possibility for retardation.

It is these factors that argue alexithymia - do dreams matter if you cannot comprehend them or even remember them? Can significant dreaming occurr in individuals with ACC? "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" Keeping in mind that if someone with ACC was nearby they would most likely commit to seizure before anything else.

My point in all of this was to state that the hemisphere's are both equally responsible for dreaming and brain processing. A point that Howetzer made postualtes this further:

Originally posted by Howetzer
While we know that the right brain controls the left side and visa versa.

Both hemisphere's are responsible for every process. Yes, there are certain aspects of the brain that are the neurological initial stage of sensory reception; but if this were the deciding factor on what is the most important and conscious part of the brain, then your answer would simply be the thalamus. If not, then the hippocampus or simply memory.

Also, all organisms have a concept of language and auditory sounds - it's the recognition and association to meaning that is recieved within the human brain. This is merely memory. Consider that other animals still recognize loud and scary sounds, tones (how a dog acknowledges you, etc.), and even some animals have much more advanced hearing and recognition than humans (cats, for example).

I'll stop for now.. hehe.

Hope I've been enlightening. (Or at least interesting)

I remember seeing a TV show (long time ago) about such a study, where people had their corpus callosum severed to prevent siezures.

One bit involved showing these people a picture, where the left half of the picture was a young girl, and the right half was an old man. They were told to stare at a spot right in the center, and picture was flashed briefly.

When asked to pick the picture out of a group verbally, they would pick the old man.

When asked to select the picture with their right hand, they would pick the young girl.

The idea was that the left brain "saw" the right half of the field of vision, and since that half also controls speech, that's why they picked the old man. The right brain saw the left half of the field of vision, and controls the right half of the body, so the right hand picked the young girl.

Like I said, this was a long time ago (like 25-30 years), so I may not be remembering it exactly, but I'm sure that's the essence of it.

Originally posted by PiscesDreams
did the study conclude anything about the effect severing the brain had on dreams?

There was no mention of dreaming or even the subconcious really. Just more on cognitive functioning.
More to mention.
When severed the right hemishere was able to grasp certain perceptual groupings that the leftt could not.

I just realized... A friend of mine who is epileptic may be having this surgery this summer... I will see if he has any info on this

Originally posted by O'nus
Also, all organisms have a concept of language and auditory sounds - it's the recognition and association to meaning that is recieved within the human brain. This is merely memory. Consider that other animals still recognize loud and scary sounds, tones (how a dog acknowledges you, etc.), and even some animals have much more advanced hearing and recognition than humans (cats, for example).

I think they may have some of those capacities, but not a concept of them. And the more advanced capabilites were born out of necesity. while our brains evolved toward a differant evolutionary standard of writing, reading language (not such rudementary language as animals), & math.
"Throughout the animal Kingdim , capacities are not lateralized. Instead they tend to be found in both hemispheres to roughly equal degrees. And although monkeys show some signs of lateral specialization, these are rare & inconsistant."
"For this reason it appears that the lateralization seen in the human brain was an evolutionary add on - mechanisms or abilities that were laid down in one hemisphere only." (like language and writing)
"In what must have been a fierce competition for cortical space. The evolving primate brain would have been hard pressed to gain new faculties without losing old ones."
Through evolution the emergance of a human capacity like language or an interpretive mechanism chases the perceptual skill out of the right brain.

I read a study similar to the one you're talking about TygrHawk. The experimenters used subjects with severed corpus callosum and placed them in a cubical with a wall down the middle of the desk such that their right eye saw only the right half of the desk and the left eye saw only the left half of the desk. The experimenters then placed a picture on the left half of the desk and asked the subjects if they recognized the object picture (it was something common like a tree or a bicycle). The subjects said they did. But when asked to name the object, they couldn't. The image was only being transmitted to the right half of the brain, which lacks the complex logic faculty of the left brain.

However, I believe the study also found that if the corpus callosum wasn't completely severed and even a small portion remained intact, the subjects were able to complete the exercise and name the picture, indicating that the brain could adapt over time and even rearrange where certain cognitive functions are carried out. Unfortunately, the study is mentioned in my psychology textbook which is in a box in the attic and I don't have time to go dig it out to get the specifics.

Yes Peregrinus and TygrHawk
Information is between hemisheres is lost after split brain surgery.
One hemisphere of a patient was falshed a card with the word "bow"; the other hemisphere saw "arrow". Because the patient drew a bow & arrow the assumtion was that the two hemispheres could still communicate. But this was proven to be incorrect when the next test flashed "sky to one hemishere & scrape to the other. Rather than a tall building the patient drew a sky over top of a scraper.

In another test each hemisphere was shown a small picture, one of which was related to a larger picture also presnted to that hamisphere. The patient had to choose the most appropriate picture.
The right hemisphere (the left hand) correctly picked the shovel for the snow storm; the right hand, controlled by the left hemisphere, correctly picked the chicken to go with the birds foot.
Then the person was asked why the left hand (RH) was pointing to the shovel. Because only the left hemisphere retains the abiltiy to talk, it answered. But becuase it could not know why the right hemishere was doing what it was doing, it made up a story about what it could see - namely, the chicken. It said it chose the shovel to clean out the chicken shed.

"Can't keep away from the girl,
The two sides of my brain need to have a meeting.
Can't think of anything to do,
Yeah, my left brain knows that all love is fleeting."

The White Stripes - Fell In Love With A Girl

Originally posted by Howetzer+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Howetzer)</div>

<!--QuoteBegin-O'nus

Also, all organisms have a concept of language and auditory sounds - it's the recognition and association to meaning that is recieved within the human brain. This is merely memory. Consider that other animals still recognize loud and scary sounds, tones (how a dog acknowledges you, etc.), and even some animals have much more advanced hearing and recognition than humans (cats, for example).

I think they may have some of those capacities, but not a concept of them. And the more advanced capabilites were born out of necesity. while our brains evolved toward a differant evolutionary standard of writing, reading language (not such rudementary language as animals), & math.
\"Throughout the animal Kingdim , capacities are not lateralized. Instead they tend to be found in both hemispheres to roughly equal degrees. And although monkeys show some signs of lateral specialization, these are rare & inconsistant.\"
\"For this reason it appears that the lateralization seen in the human brain was an evolutionary add on - mechanisms or abilities that were laid down in one hemisphere only.\" (like language and writing)
\"In what must have been a fierce competition for cortical space. The evolving primate brain would have been hard pressed to gain new faculties without losing old ones.\"
Through evolution the emergance of a human capacity like language or an interpretive mechanism chases the perceptual skill out of the right brain.[/b]

Yes, what my posts intention to ask was why or how did humans come to such development when all other animals have equal capability? How did our species begin it's great increase in culture and intelligence? Why? Why can't other animals?

*Shrugs*

Do you believe in the missing link theory? Actually did they not just find some really small person with similar skull structure?
Also maybe climate change played a role on which species got to develop and which did not. As life grew increasingly easier for us (less dependent on instincts) maybe our brains began to develope in that fassion.?!

*shrugs* too

Dreaming: Right vs. Left Brain
Left - right- or ambidextrous?

So how could I use my left side of my brain when I'm dreaming?

Originally posted by Shlumpeet+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Shlumpeet)</div>

So how could I use my left side of my brain when I'm dreaming?[/b]

<!--QuoteBegin-Onus
Left Hemisphere:
- Language
- Logic
- Interpretation
- Arithmatic

Right Hemisphere:
- Geometry
- Nonverbal processes
- Visual pattern recognition
- Auditory discrimination
- Spatial skills

This is what makes reading, looking at a clock, doing numbers and other left region activities difficult while lucid dreaming. But you can achieve a hi level of lucidtiy and compromise if you will with your left hemisphere & your subconcious.
You can try somthing like the telephone technique.

Dreaming: Right vs. Left Brain
Left - right- or ambidextrous?