Halves that are greater than the whole- Split Brain

The split-brain syndrome also called callosal disconnection syndrome. This condition arises when there is complete severing or lesioning of the corpus callosum, which is the bundle of nerves that connect the right hemisphere to the left hemisphere of the brain.

The left and right hemispheres have control over certain tasks, for example, the left hemisphere is responsible for analytical tasks, speech, and language, and the right hemisphere is responsible for spatial tasks. The two however routinely communicate with each other through the corpus callosum as certain sensory signals are transmitted from one side of the body to the other side of the brain.

The primary cause of the split-brain syndrome is the intentional severing of the corpus callosum called corpus callosotomy. This used to be done as a treatment of severe epilepsy but is rarely performed in the 21st century as there now exist alternative medicines. Other causes include stroke, tumors, trauma injuries, etc. now one might think the phrase ‘in two minds’ was made up for people with split-brain but in reality, such patients do not have two independent conscious perceivers in one brain. They can perform all tasks they could before their brain hemispheres went on a real (pun intended) like walking, running, swimming, driving, etc. They can even learn new tasks that involve mirrored movements of their hands. One of the shortcomings, however, is that if one wanted to learn the piano and channel their inner Mozart, they sadly would not be able to as that requires both the hands to work in sync but not mirrored. Another setback is that thy have trouble concerning speech and object recognition, for example, they will not be able to, blindfolded, name an object places in their left hands, as information for the sense of touch is relayed from the left side of the body to the right side of the brain which is weak in the language centre so cannot name the object it has identified.

To conclude my article I would like to make it clear that split personality syndrome and split-brain are not connected at all much like the corpus callosum after the severing haha) People with split brain are just as normal as the great of us. Be kind and take care.