Real life W

[takenoko]

So I was listening to the September 24 episode of the Jick Show when Jick mentions that people with a cut corpus callosum have two personalities in the same body (around 80 minutes in). I didn't really remember learning anything like that in class, so I did a little research.

http://hypnosisschool.org/hypnotic/brain-areas.php
Apparently the two brains act independently, but aren't really two different personalities necessarily. As the video shows, the specialization of the two hemispheres handle information input differently, but overall it's still the same person.

http://nobelprize.org/educational_games ... inexp.html
This stupid game kind of illustrates the information from the video

What would be neat is if we found something on the level of W, where the hemisphere demonstrated two clearly defined personalities

[YagamiAkira]

Interesting, and thx for the info...

[monritche]

I like the split brain experiment link you posted.

What would be neat is if we found something on the level of W, where the hemisphere demonstrated two clearly defined personalities

^Though I think that would be a case of DID or Dissociative Identity Disorder which is different from personalities of people who had severed corpus callosum. An interesting note, that the connectivity of your corpus callosum can also affect your process of decision-making as well as you being ambidextrous or not.

[takenoko]

Yeah, I didn't think it was really the case. Although, what if you snip a baby's corpus callosum and let the brain develop like that? Would that be early enough that the brain will just develop each hemisphere separately I wonder?

[monritche]

http://fetus.ucsfmedicalcenter.org/corpus_callosum/

Hmmm...I think that case might be similar to agenesis of corpus callosum which in the first place there were no or an underdevelopment of the corpus callosum of the child during pregnancy. From the web article above, learning abilities are a bit handicapped for kids with this disorder. Unless both of their hemispheres are trained in isolation (that is, each eye is being blindfolded during training), it might be possible to create this real-life W, however in actual situation psychiatrists would not do that because it will sure cause insanity to the patient.

In a way, it is a good sight when Phillip and Shotaro "scientifically correct" henshin (the part when they raise their Gaia Memories), since Phillip is the right brain side he raises his gaia memory with his left hand and Shotaro being the left brain raises with his right hand.

[IijumiSoukai]

This reminds me of that villian from the Batman mythos named "Scarface". Scarface was another personality that "existed" within this meek ventriloquist and seemed to have some control over the puppeteer's body (when the puppet was in his hand).

[Dengar]

Erm, what about the more classical "Two-face" who had the half-and-half face, and the split personality to go with it?

[IijumiSoukai]

I guess...he could fit.

[lightning90]

i think two-face just have an indecisive problems. like part of him was the good side and then he goes loco and becomes indecisive of what to do when confronted with choices. hence the coin flip. so i'm positive he's not a W case. other than his appearance.

anyway, what about split or multiple personality disorder? when the personalities becomes like separate ones. if two of the personalities can emerge at the same time, we'd see a bickering over who's getting the body?

[Dengar]

I don't think split personalities work that way though.

[Susan]

Wow, this brings back memories! We studied this back in Psych 101 at college. A manhad his corpus collosum severed as a measure for reducing his seizures. He didn't demonstrate any kind of dual personality, but did demonstrate some weirdness, like being able to control each of his hands independently.

Ha, just looked at the video posted and realized it's the same guy, Joe. The video I watched, however, was newer and part of a series hosted by Alan Alda (of M*A*S*H fame)

[jolly_old_saint]

http://hypnosisschool.org/hypnotic/brain-areas.php

..."What we can do is play tricks by putting information into his dic....disconnected mute non-talking right hemisphere..."

Spoiler

[[kuronogantzryu]]

<nothing to see>

[lostinbrave]

There was a house episode last year (I think) that showcased a guy with this, or something similar. I'm pretty sure it was just an actor but it worked out well for the story.