Two Minds in One - Which is dominant

[Grayman]

Left Brain or Right Brain?
In The Modular Brain: How New Discoveries in Neuroscience are Answering Age-Old Questions about Memory, Free Will, Consciousness, and Personal Identity (1994), neurologist Richard M. Restak sums up how either the left or right hemisphere usually handles certain processes: "The right hemisphere is dominant for nonverbal, largely spatial tasks like copying designs, interpreting facial expression, mentally transforming or transferring visual images in ones' mind, intuitively appreciating geometrical designs. In addition, the right hemisphere is superior to its counterpart in expressing and appreciating emotions. The left hemisphere is the speech and language maven: it handles reading, writing, and understanding spoken language. The left hemisphere is also specialized for calculation. But more important than the parceling of function is the fact that each hemisphere has its own unique consciousness."

It is interesting how each side of the brain contains certain feelings. The left contains positive feelings and the right contains the negative feelings. For me the right brain 'consciousness' is a strong consciousness. I believe that I try to communicate with people in an odd manner, as if my instincts were directly communicating instead of my words, and I have visions of possibilities.
There is harmony between the two consciousness but what happens when it is disrupted. Perhaps that will tell us more of what the two conscious brains do.

(I found the part about schizophrenics to be particularly interesting. I almost feel the opposite of them, so perhaps I am residing on the opposite consciousness but with the same issue or perhaps I am on the route to enlightenment.)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqrpKUTMXgY

Se(See) this video... it is an hour and a half but most of the science in the beginning. Buddhist history and ideas come in the second half. This guy is a neuroscientist so I think what he has to say about the brain is worth watching this even if you are not interested in enlightenment.

"Manipulator, I am excited to affect the action of your mind in this."

 

[Ex-User (8886)]

But more important than the parceling of function is the fact that each hemisphere has its own unique consciousness.

I just have read this words, and I am... shocked, stoned...
because I feel like in my mind there are two persons...
(reading further)

 

[BigApplePi]

Two thoughts here (I'm at the first 20 minutes of the utube).

1. Pointing to a geographical part of the brain and matching it up with a piece of psychology is going to be in general, crude though some things stand out.

2. If we say we have selves defined by a left brain and a right brain, what is it when I run my left hand under warm water and my right under cold? Is that one self or two? Why can't we call that two, though they have something in common which in so sensing may be a third self?

 

[Grayman]

Two thoughts here (I'm at the first 20 minutes of the utube).

1. Pointing to a geographical part of the brain and matching it up with a piece of psychology is going to be in general, crude though some things stand out.

2. If we say we have selves defined by a left brain and a right brain, what is it when I run my left hand under warm water and my right under cold? Is that one self or two? Why can't we call that two, though they have something in common which in so sensing may be a third self?

1. understandable, I find it a good starting point though.

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-brain

The effects you speak of do occur for people who had their brains cut in half by surgery or stroke damage. Otherwise when the brain is connected, the consciousnesses communicate seamlessly.

 

[BigApplePi]

1. understandable, I find it a good starting point though.

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-brain

The effects you speak of do occur for people who had their brains cut in half by surgery or stroke damage. Otherwise when the brain is connected, the consciousnesses communicate seamlessly.

Apparently when the brain is cut in half, either side has enough there to bring forth a consciousness of reasonable breadth. This even though one side specialized in verbal and the other spacial.

Call this "vertical" separation. Now what if horizontal separation? This can't be done in practice because there is no natural way to separate. What I propose is if there was a way (freezing one half?) that a sufficient volume of brain would be enough to bring forth a form of consciousness.

The idea of a brain responding to warm water on the left hand and cold on the right is not adequate separation, but is separation nonetheless.

Note it was mentioned if part of the brain (like stroke) is damaged, another part can be trained to take over. This suggests to me another consciousness could be developed if not present already. (I'm not explaining this well.)

 

[ZenRaiden]

Well I had something like psychotic brake down and the feeling is very wierd. To me it seemed like I had no control over my thoughts and there was this huge poverty of thought that means I had repeated thoughts that made no sense even to me. Even worse it felt like my mind is collapsing and that any minute my brain will just crash and I will drop down and go crazy. Worst of all I do know what it was or have any closer explanation and I certainly have no clue if it was left or right hemisphere that was making all the trouble. To me it seemed as if both hemispheres were doing something different. I saw pictures and the auditory part of my brain just kept repeating the same sounds in my head as if it was broken record.

 

[Grayman]

Call this "vertical" separation. Now what if horizontal separation? This can't be done in practice because there is no natural way to separate. What I propose is if there was a way (freezing one half?) that a sufficient volume of brain would be enough to bring forth a form of consciousness.

http://news.discovery.com/tech/robotics/brain-dish-flies-plane-041022.htm

This is interesting. Just a few brain cells and it can fly a virtual plane.

This leaves the question of, "Is it self aware.".

It would seem with the two sides of the brain there are two conscious minds, but this is speculative. It seems like it is in this video where they do some experiments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFgtGIL7vEY#t=18


What I want to know is "How do you ask the silent side of the brain if it questions it's existence?"