Researchers discovered they could present some visual stimuli only on one side of the brain by flashing it really quickly on one side. The information as it was getting into the left side of the hemisphere could be processed in a different way than stuff that was getting on the right hemisphere. Usually in normal people the ability the your linguistic abilities reside in the left hemisphere so if you present something to the right visual field and you're a split brain patient you can say what you saw.
David and Tamler discuss famous 'split brain' experiments pioneered by Roger Sperry and Michael Gazzaniga. What happens when you cut off the main line of communication between the left and right hemispheres of our brain? Why under certain conditions do the the left and right brains seem like they have different abilities and desires? What does this tell us about the ‘self’? Do we have two consciousnesses, but only that can speak? Does the left brain bully the right brain? Are we all just a bundle of different consciousnesses with their own agendas? Thanks to our Patreon supporters for suggesting and voting for this fascinating topic!
Plus, physicists may be able to determine whether we’re living in a computer simulation – but is it too dangerous to try to find out?
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