Do You Really Have Two Brains?

You're gonna lobe this video
↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓

Are you a left-brained person or a right-brained person? Spoiler: You're neither. Each of us uses both sides of our brain for most of what we do. But still, there are a number of brain functions that do show lateralization, where they are localized to one side or another. Why is this? And how does it influence our definition of consciousness? People with "split brains" can help us figure it out.

Special thanks to Dr. Michael Gazzaniga for his help researching this video!

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READ MORE:

Gazzaniga, Michael S. "Forty-five years of split-brain research and still going strong." Nature reviews. Neuroscience 6.8 (2005): 653.

Gazzaniga, Michael S. "The split-brain: Rooting consciousness in biology." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111.51 (2014): 18093-18094.

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It's Okay To Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D.
Director: Joe Nicolosi
Writer: Shaena Montanari, Ph.D.
Editor/animator: Andrew Orsak
Producer: Stephanie Noone and Amanda Fox

Produced by PBS Digital Studios
Music via APM

[besmart]

People with surgically split brains show some pretty strange behaviors. Do they prove that we've all got two conscious minds inside of us? It's nowhere near that simple, because the brain never is… 🤓

Tell us what you thought of this week's video!

[LaughingOwl]

I wish you had gone deeper into the split brain people. There are some really weird examples out there. Like the man who was beating his wife with one hand while the other tried to stop him.

[Master_Therion]

Two brains? I can't even use the one I have much goodly.

[hettyscetty]

I think that split brain is one of the most fascinating things I have ever heard about (I've looked at it before) it just amazes me how it's like that person who was once just one person can have two brains with two different opinions inside of their head. There was a guy who had had the corpus colostomy (if you want to get technical) that was putting on his trousers and one of his hands I think it was the right hand kept on pulling them back down again.

[PurpleAmharicCoffee]

If my brain is an orchestra, then the percussion section is too rowdy and keeps cracking jokes during rests.

[cup_check_official]

"You’re gonna lobe this video" well played It's Okay to be smart. Well played

[GabriTell]

This explains why when you're having a conversation (either with yourself or whoever) time seems to pass faster, your left hemisphere is being more conscious than your right (which is in charge of the notion of space and time). When you're bored instead, your right hemisphere is being more conscious than your left (since you're more aware of time and space)... 🧠🌟

[braincraft]

3:32 – "ThinkMeat™"

brb changing my channel name

[chapo]

When I was at the young age of 12 (back in 1997) I was knocked over by a car, what destroyed the left side of my brain. Doctors said I will die in my coma ... coming out of the coma 8-9 weeks after being knocked over, I had loss the use of my right hand side, people pick my arm up and it dropped like a rag doll, my leg was the same... The hospital said I will be in a wheel chair for the rest of my life.
I could understand the Doctor and the words he spoke, but being unable to respond I tried to put my thumb down and yelped a word that sounded like a mumble. The Doctor lent over to me and said ' I'm sorry Lee, but your family need to carry on with their life's and you will be looked after by a home...
Well with the Doctor saying that, I pushed myself to get as best as I could... I was in my wheelchair for just over a year, then a walking frame for about 6-7 months... I was still unsteady on my feet.
Now days I'm a father of two daughters, I'm married, even though the left side of my brain had and still is injured, I believe being at a young age of being knocked over, the injury just stopped growing the rout it had planned, for the big bang it received, it just found a new way of growing as much as my brain could.

[Rocketboy]

The human brain is the most complex thing in existence. So much so that it can't fully comprehend itself.

[davidm.johnston]

You guys really nail the making of this show. Everything is so well done, both entertaining and informing. Congrats!

[maghouinbeg]

Fascinating. I am recovering from a migraine. During the migraine, I was able to think thoughts, and sound them out in my mind, but speaking them out loud, or typing them resulted in a few intelligible words that then dissolved into gibberish.

[cooldudeg]

If both sides of the brain can operate independently of each other, I wonder of the patient would develop multiple personalities, the longer the brains are separated, the more differentiated they become, and sooner or later it would be like two people operating one body.

[gigglysamentz]

3:50 I don't think the symphony will lose any beauty after studying it !

[Scuubie]

I think there is a mistake at 1:53, the left brain is responsible for speech and the right side of the body. So a human with a split couldn't say the word monkey when it is only seen by the LEFT eye, but the left hand can draw it since they are both controlled by the right side of the brain.

[Jeffry_Ab]

You guys are really good at making science poetic

[explainous]

The best thing is split brain guys can play rock, paper, scissors with themselves.

[ajsworld]

This is such an amazing video. It is much, much better than most of the other videos that I’ve reviewed that address a younger audience. First of all, it’s scientifically accurate, that’s amazing by itself. If this video were simplified even more, so that it could be used to educate a first grader, it would be perfect. Thank you for not using complex terms, statistics, percentages etc.

[TheyCallMeNewb]

The phenomenon of a participant consistently managing to eye track a stimulus without conscious thought - or even awareness - is an exciting avenue of research; opto-kinetic nystagmus. Just extraordinary.

[donnie]

"Stay curious" = honestly my favourite thing ever 😄💕🙌🏻💕😄