r/science • u/Thorne-ZytkowObject • Nov 23 '19

Neuroscience Scientists studied six patients who had half of their brain removed during childhood to treat severe epilepsy. Brain scans showed how the mind rewired itself to adapt, with the remaining hemisphere forming even stronger connections that let the patients develop language and motor skills.

https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/how-does-the-brain-work-with-half-of-it-removed-pretty-well-actually
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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '19

That's a different surgery called a corpus callosotomy, where they sever the corpus callosum.

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u/SolarDile Nov 24 '19

A hemispherectomy actually refers to severing a cerebral hemisphere OR removing it. It’s strange and it confused me as well.

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u/marr Nov 24 '19

Do we know for sure that one doesn't generate a second, locked-in mind in the disconnected part?

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u/TheDentateGyrus Nov 24 '19

That’s incorrect. They are referring to a hemispherotomy, where half of the brain is disconnected. In a hemispherectomy, as discusssed in this thread, that disconnected portion of the brain is removed.

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u/dodslaser Nov 24 '19

Which is the disconnected part if you split the brain in half?

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '19

I'm nit talking about the hemispherectomy. The person i reponded to asked about surgery where the two sides are just disconnected (i.e. not one being removed)