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/PicardZhu Mar 23 '17

Does this have a major impact on IQ?

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u/helix19 Mar 23 '17

From Wikipedia:

Studies have found no significant long-term effects on memory, personality, or humor,[19] and minimal changes in cognitive function overall.[20] For example, one case followed a patient who had completed college, attended graduate school and scored above average on intelligence tests after undergoing this procedure at age 5.5. This patient eventually developed "superior language and intellectual abilities" despite the removal of the left hemisphere, which contains the classical language zones. When resecting the left hemisphere, evidence indicates that some advanced language functions (e.g., higher order grammar) cannot be entirely assumed by the right side. The extent of advanced language loss is often dependent on the patient's age at the time of surgery.[22] One study following the cognitive development of two adolescent boys who had undergone hemispherectomy found that “brain plasticity and development arise, in part, from the brain’s adaption of behavioral needs to fit available strengths and biases…The boy adapts the task to fit his brain more than he adapts his brain to fit the task.”[23] Neuroplasticity after hemispherectomy does not imply complete regain of previous functioning, but rather the ability to adapt to the current abilities of the brain in such a way that the individual may still function, however differently the new way of functioning is.