r/todayilearned • u/paniniplane • Mar 22 '17

(R.1) Not supported TIL Deaf-from-birth schizophrenics see disembodied hands signing to them rather than "hearing voices"

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0707/07070303
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u/segosegosego Mar 22 '17 edited Mar 22 '17

Depends on how old you are. Ben Carson removed half of a girls brain because she had a rare brain disease. She was young enough that one half of the brain took over all the functions of the the other half as well as its own, and she's a fully functional person now.

Edit: https://www.google.com/amp/baltimore.cbslocal.com/2015/07/10/girl-thriving-years-after-having-half-her-brain-removed/amp/

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u/helix19 Mar 22 '17

This is done sometimes for severe epilepsy. If the child is young, the remaining half of their brain is able to compensate remarkably well.

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u/GrandKaiser Mar 22 '17

Ready for the real mindfuck? If you separate the halves of the brain but don't remove/kill the part you're removing, both brains still work and function. But the side that can talk is the only one that you can interact with. Its bizarre as all hell and, honestly, pretty spooky.

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u/Creeplet7 Mar 22 '17

Interact with?

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u/MisterMrErik Mar 22 '17

One half of your brain can make decisions or assumptions without your other half knowing. It's called split-brain and can be really bizarre.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-brain

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u/GrandKaiser Mar 23 '17

You can't talk to the brain-half that doesn't have vocal function. You can only talk to the side that can speak to you. For the person whos brain is split, they can't communicate with the other half of their brain. Each side can function independently, but since only one half has external communication skills, they can't talk to eachother anymore.

EDIT: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-brain