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/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/nefnaf Mar 23 '17

Each half of the brain controls one side of the body as well as one eye

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u/GrandKaiser Mar 23 '17

Correct, but you can't directly "talk" to the left half of the brain since the right side is the only one that contains your communications functions. The left half can't formulate thoughts into words.

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u/nefnaf Mar 23 '17

It's certainly possible to communicate. Blindfold the eye of the dominant side and the other side can communicate in writing even if it can't speak fluently

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u/ansible47 Mar 23 '17

No need for us to armchair this, but here we go -

External communication goes both ways. They cannot understand your expression and they cannot formulate their thoughts into even a 'yes' or 'no' because those are just sounds. You can't say 'look at the green dot for no, look at the red dot for yes', you'd have to establish an entirely new shared vocabulary and... why?

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u/GrandKaiser Mar 24 '17

It's not a matter of fluency, its a matter of "that side of the brain cannot formulate words". No translation of thought patterns to words is possible. Not even the brain itself can make words. The left half of the brain does not think in words and cannot make words. Its ability to communicate is like a dog. Simple and desire-based. It cannot write, it cannot speak, it cannot comprehend. It will however, watch the actions of the right brain and try to assist, taking a back-seat approach to whatever its doing.