Did That Really Happen?

[donkey tugger]

the most famous of the tin foil hatters (imo) art bell and alex jones,

He was always a bit weird in Blur.

[vurt]

cheese my dear fellow, cheese.

[donkey tugger]

cheese my dear fellow, cheese.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLMYZ6FwddY

[Eauson]

Blur cheese?
I like Danish blue not tried blur cheese
Its the crackers....

[woggle]

I am, or at least used to be, a neuroscientist. Do not worry about debates re left/right brain. Typically our brain is working with complex constellations of activity changing all the time. There is anatomical specialisation of function of course but that is in the context of dynamic activity and enormous reciprocal interconnectivity.

The nice thing in the original article on language lateralisation is pointing out the folly of linking brain region size with functional import. This is an idea that has held sway for too long - studies from maybe a couple of decades ago (using cold to "immobilise" neural pathways in cat's brains) indicated this.

[chk071]

both sides as always, have their nutters

Yeah, true stuff. Just pointed out what most of the political stuff Google does is IMO about. Whether that is pure populism, or not, left aside.

[vurt]

google, goes where the money is!
that's their only agenda.

now if only theyd stop reading my thoughts...

[thecontrolcentre]

now if only theyd stop reading my thoughts...

Have you forgotten to put your "special" hat on?

[Jace-BeOS]

My understanding isn't that it's been debunked that parts of the brain specialize. It's been debunked that you could be a "right/left brained person".

If you want to know how adaptive the brain can be, learn about people who've had actual hemispherectomies to solve extreme seizure disorders. Yes, that's the removal of a hemisphere of the brain.

[AnX]

Humans do not have the capacity to fully understand humans.

That is a scientific fact.

[chk071]

True. If we did, the master plan would be in serious trouble.

[harryupbabble]

Jace, I guess I'm not seeing the distinction between brain hemisphere specialization and left-brain right-brain label.

If Elton John was utilizing his right brain hemisphere to make music then to me he is a right-brain person and if you remove his right brain hemisphere and Elton lived, chances are that the Taupin-john songwriting team would have suffered tremendously. I looked it up, Elton John is left-handed and therefore uses his right brain hemisphere more.

I am now wondering how many musicians were left-handed. Were there more left-handed musicians even though there are more right-handed people in the whole world? And how many lyricists and writers were right-handed? Lots? Left-brain = lyricists? Right-brain = musicians?

The third link in my first post seem to say that that is true. That article seem to be saying that damage to a brain hemisphere causes major major major change to a person, and even after recovery, things just aren't the same anymore? You are no longer you after such a change? Basically, to me, that article is is saying that "If you were a musician before and you damage your right brain hemisphere then forget about being a musician ever again".

Here's a couple of actual quotes from that article:

“A little-known fact is that Broca’s original patient who was unable to speak was able to sing La Marseillaise [the French national anthem] fluently,”
"They also reinforce the main finding that the critical areas for music perception are localized in the right hemisphere".

In that case, the brain damage to right brain hemisphere affected language skills or lyric-writing skills but not musical skills. Conversely, if the other brain hemisphere is damaged then the effect must be devastating to someone like Elton John, a music man as opposed to a lyrics man?

I think Pink Floyd fired Syd Barrett for that reason because Syd was no longer a songwriter because extensive brain damage was done to Syd's brain by way of drug overuse and abuse. Sure, no one knows which brain hemisphere was damaged more in Syd's case but I bet it's both brain hemispheres because some people claim that Syd Barret was an excellent songwriter. A freak. I prefer Roger Waters though no matter how many people say Syd is a better songwriter than Roger. I'm just being a subject and being subjective, like everyone else.

Pink Floyd was inspired to write Dark Side Of The Moon album because of Syd's brain damage?

Off topic: Dark Side Of The Moon is quintessential "pop" music. Even the Beatles couldn't dethrone its popularity in terms of "longlastedness" on the Billboard chart.

[woggle]

Jace, I guess I'm not seeing the distinction between brain hemisphere specialization and left-brain right-brain label.

leftbrain /rightbrain distinctions are (usually) shorthand pop psych for analytic vs creative personalities - which itself is a simplification. The idea that language is a left hemisphere specialisation is also a generalisation that does not apply to everyone. The idea that a specific language area can be pinpointed in everyone is also a generalisation that does not stand up to detailed analysis. These generalisations are worthwhile but models of brain function have radically changed over the last twenty years or so and have moved on from "language is a function of part X" to "part X takes part in language function in most people"

Injury studies have their uses but are also limited - the brain reorganises after injury but there is a limit to that reorganisation.

I will descend into an analogy - think of a lightbulb, you turn it on and you get light - ah, you say, light comes from a lightbulb. So you take out the lightbulb and carry it outside into the night and are surprised to find out that it doesn't light anything up. So it is not the lightbulb that brings light - must be the lightbulb and the household circuit, but if you isolate the circuit as well the lightbulb still does not go on. Then it is the lightbulb and the whole system to the generator - but that doesn't work either coz the generator requires raw materials, and the raw materials require suppliers etc etc.

So if someone says Broca's area is where language takes place then remember that Broca's is, at best, the light bulb.

And the brain is way more complex than that eg the average brain has something like 150 trillion synapses - or more - and their properties are changing all the time - and that's just one aspect of the materiality of a brain.

[whyterabbyt]

So if someone says Broca's area is where language takes place then remember that Broca's is, at best, the light bulb.

And the brain is way more complex than that

Going by some folk round here, you're gonna have to provide evidence for that one.

[vurt]

the thing i like most about the human brain, the taste mmmmwaaaahhh
the texture is pleasant too, when cooked right