Split-Brain Experiments
By Ryan Ries

"If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn't."
- Lyall Watson

It doesn't take a neurosurgeon to realize that the brain of a mammal, and that of a human in particular, must be the most astoundingly complex piece of biological machinery to exist on Earth. It wasn't even an uncontested fact that the brain was the seat of sensation and intelligence until the common era! Even today, contemporary theories on the most enigmatic workings of the human brain lunge past the untamed wilds of our imaginations. Among the most intriguing of these postulations is the idea that the brain and/or mind operates somewhat like a hologram, insofar that if you take a holographic image of a rose printed onto a postcard, and cut it into four pieces, you do not get four different corners of the rose as if it were a simple drawing, but four smaller versions of the entire rose. This hypothesis probably has no scientific merit as of yet, but one cannot help but give it some thought, as humans have been witnessed surviving seemingly insurmountable head and brain trauma - even losing significant chunks of their grey matter - yet their cognitive abilities make a full recovery. This phenomenon is markedly more likely to occur in children, only furthering the perplexity of the situation.

But I digress. I want to discuss a completely different, and more scientifically studied phenomenon of the human brain: The split-brain.

I first learned of split-brain experiments in Roger Penrose's book, The Emperor's New Mind, a book recommended to me by a friend. I've been fascinated with them ever since.

In a split-brain subject, the corpus callosum has been severed, so that the left and right hemispheres of the brain are completely separated. Each hemisphere can still operate well enough on its own, but they can no longer communicate with eachother. In the case of this patient, you essentially have two distinct consciousnesses inside the same skull. Now, in reality the mechanics are far more complex, but for simplicity's sake, here is a generalization: The left-brain receives hearing from the right ear, the right-brain receives hearing from the left ear, the left-brain controls the right-side field of vision in both eyes, the right hemisphere controls the left-hand field vision in both eyes, et cetera. I hope I'm not perpetuating a misconception with that synopsis, but that's how I've come to understand it.



Of course, the most fascinating facet of the corpus callosum-less brain is that each hemisphere of the brain appears to have its very own personality. Using the principles outlined above about how one side of the brain controls a certain side of the body, scientists were able to communicate exclusively with one hemisphere of the patient's brain without the knowledge or participation of the other hemisphere.

Before we go any further, bear in mind that these "split-brain experiments" were not conducted by "mad-scientists" with an unethical intent. There was an entirely different reason why the corpus callsoum was severed in these patients, and it was typically because of uncontrollable seizures. In the case where the patient's seizures were constant and violent, operating on the brain in this manner was the last resort - the only way of stopping the seizures. Fortunately, it also provided neuroscientists with remarkable insight as to the lesser known mechanics of the brain.

Basically, the scientist studying the patient drew up a poster with checkboxes on it reading "Yes," "No," and "I don't know." The split-brain patient was then asked questions by the scientist, with the questions being directed toward one hemisphere of the brain or the other, by either quietly whispering it into one ear or the other, or by holding up a written question on a notecard and placing it in front of either the left or right side of either eye. The right hemisphere can't talk, but it can read and comprehend basic semantics and respond, so it can point out Yes or No on the poster.

After a series of intuitive yes/no questions to get a baseline and confirm that the two separate hemispheres of the patient's brain were cooperating with the scientist, the patient's right-brain was then asked the big question:

"Do you believe in God?"

The right hemisphere went straight to "Yes." (Pointing with his left hand obviously.) When the doctor asked the same question of the left hemisphere, given the same choices of yes, no, and I don't know, it went straight to "No."

So here's a human being, who's right brain is religious, and his left brain is an atheist.

Not to single anyone out, but this study should have caused a great tidal wave in the theological community. What happens when this person dies? Half of his head goes to Heaven and half of his head goes to Hell? This is a concrete study, producing concrete observations that need to be answered by the people whose claims of how the Universe works comes into direct contradiction with this experiment.

I found this study to touch me personally, and the reason is because anyone who knows me in person, will probably know that I had brain surgery about ten years ago, and this surgery had some unusual side-effects, like the transferring of my writing skill from my right hand to my left hand, such that the very next day when I woke up from the surgery, I was, to my great frustration, unable to write with my right hand when before this surgery I had been exclusively right-handed. But at the same time, I discovered that I was now able to write with my left hand with no practice or training at all, as if I had been writing with my left hand all my life! Unfortunately, I have since been unable to re-train my right hand to write with the same proficiency that most people have, or do any other fine-motor-skills related thing with my right hand with the same proficiency that most people can. My right eye is also getting increasingly lazy as I get older, but I do not know for a fact that that's a related incident.

But what if the doctor's tinkering with my brain did affect the entire right side of my body, including the right hemisphere of my brain? Stroke patients, for instance, have been known to have one entire side of their bodies affected by their stroke. So I've believed up until now that my brain surgery has had no effect on my personality, but taking into account split-brain experiments, I wonder now - ten years later - if it has had effects on my personality that I wasn't aware of.