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Split-brain or callosal syndrome is a type of disconnection syndrome when the corpus callosum connecting the two hemispheres of the brain is severed to some degree. It is an association of symptoms produced by disruption of, or interference with, the connection between the hemispheres of the brain.
Split-brain patients have been subjects for numerous psychological experiments that sought to discover what occurs in the brain after the primary interhemispheric pathways have been disrupted. Notable researchers in the field include Roger Sperry , one of the first to publish ideas involving a dual consciousness; and his famous graduate student ...
The neurological model in The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind is a radical neuroscientific hypothesis that was based on research novel at the time, mainly on Michael Gazzaniga's split-brain experiments [9] [10] and left-brain interpreter theory.
One of the experiments carried out by Gazzaniga involved a split-brain male patient sitting in front of a computer screen while having words and images presented on either side of the screen, and the visual stimuli would go to either the right or left visual field, and thus the left or right brain, respectively.
Physicists use the Boltzmann brain thought experiment as a reductio ad absurdum argument for evaluating competing scientific theories. In contrast to brain in a vat thought experiments, which are about perception and thought, Boltzmann brains are used in cosmology to test our assumptions about thermodynamics and the development of the universe.
Sperry studied patients who had undergone corpus callosotomy and detailed their resulting split-brain characteristics. [2] Improvements to surgical techniques, along with refinements of the indications, have allowed van Wagenen's procedure to endure; corpus callosotomy is still commonly performed throughout the world. [4]
In split-brain patients, the corpus callosum is cut, severing the main structure for communication between the two hemispheres. The first modern split-brain patient was a war veteran known as Patient W.J., [10] whose case contributed to further understanding of asymmetry. Brain asymmetry is not unique to humans.
With further research in the late 1990s using new brain imaging technology, Jaynes's ideas have received renewed attention [18] [19] and recognition for contributing to a rethinking of auditory hallucinations and mental illness. [20]