On Feb 25, 2013, at 5:45 PM, Pat Hayes <phayes@xxxxxxx> wrote: (01)
>> Consider the vast variety of experiments involving brain damage (Roger
>Sperry's for example) that show we are not always able to report. I am
>thinking of cases where a witness cannot report, or misreports, verbally but
>the hand still reports correctly using language, a fact that the individual
>appears unaware of.
>
> Those arose from bisecting the corpus callossum, which is a rather drastic
>(and now prohibited) rearrangement of the global neural architecture. One
>hemisphere has no access to spoken language, but apparently still has views it
>wants to express. But in these cases, still the no-spoken-language hemisphere
>has a prefrontal lobe. I don't believe it is possible to imagine what it is
>like to be such an individual, in fact, nor how the subjective
>multi-experiences of the brain-bisected patient can be related to those of an
>intact brain. (02)
Certain individuals are born without a corpus callosum and function, with
language, without the problems disclosed by split brain experiments (they have
other problems yet they live in society and hold down jobs, and so forth).
Which only goes to show how very little we actually know about neurobiology and
biophysics in general (and, BTW, despite western governments, including the
Obama administration, apparent enthusiasm for the subject, "mapping the brain"
tells us nothing much of consequence). (03)
So I think it is very difficult, in fact, to draw definitive conclusions from
our current knowledge of the human brain and that the evidence for language
effects upon behavior, while inconclusive, is stronger from observation in the
large than it is in the small at this point. (04)
All respect to your personal experience, of course. (05)
Best regards,
Steven (06)
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