This disturbing bit of medical science is from 1935:
“Thinking” Brain Removed
LIKE a fairy tale of medicine is the description of an operation which removed nearly the entire “thinking” portion of a woman’s brain, changing her entire personality. For the first year after the operation the woman was almost childishly gay and happy. Later came more mature changes, which improved her power of concentration, memory, and endurance. The right prefrontal lobe and most of the left lobe of the brain were removed by Dr. Glen Spurling of Louisville University’s School of Medicine.
That's all there is, so we don't know why this operation was done....
Well, tommyrot, now I feel like I need to retroactively choke a bitch.
Really. There has to be much more to this story than what we're getting. I'm really curious.
What I find interesting about it is that even after the removal of the "thinking" brain, she still continued to develop and may eventually have gotten back to "normal"
an operation which removed nearly the entire “thinking” portion of a woman’s brain
The joke is, it's not unheard-of to remove one hemisphere of the brain -- in a young child. It's basically the last-ditch fix for severe epilepsy. And because a young child's brain still has its infant plasticity, children who have this operation usually end up in the ballpark of normal development. Despite having only half a brain.
I'm not sure this fantasist of 1930-whatever really wants a grown woman with seriously-damaged frontal lobes. Everybody who knew Phineas Gage reported that after his accident, he became an asshole.
Did anyone see the piece in the NY Times Magazine recently about brain disorders? It focused on something called
t memfault
Williams or Thomas or Jethro or some first name name. Near as I can tell, and I don't mean to make light here, it basically turns you into a puppy - super friendly and gregarious, always sunny, and absolutely no ability to pick up social cues. Seriously freaky.
But they had some very interesting discussion about the evolution of the brain and what you can learn about priorities (on the species level) from how the brain developed. (Also why Survivor is so genius, but I might have inferred that part.)
ETA: [link]
Did anyone see the piece in the NY Times Magazine recently about brain disorders?
I read that and watched the video too. The girl they showed was so sweet and goofy. Very different from somebody with Downs, though with some obvious cognitive deficit.
Williams or Thomas or Jethro or some first name name. Near as I can tell, and I don't mean to make light here, it basically turns you into a puppy - super friendly and gregarious, always sunny, and absolutely no ability to pick up social cues. Seriously freaky.
I think it may be Williams Syndrome. [eta: just clicked the link, and it is indeed] Some of my boss's patients have it (whatever causes the brain thing also sometimes brings (comparatively minor) heart defects as a gift with purchase).
They are exceptionally sunny and cheerful and loving, but their families and caretakers have to be super-vigilant because they've got no instinct for doubt, skepticism, self-preservation, and they make great targets for everything from bullies to sexual abusers because they're so thoroughly guileless and trusting. They haven't got a mean, conniving, un-sweet bone in their bodies, and they're completely, physiologically incapable of imagining that any human being could ever wish harm on them or anyone else.
Megan just sent me a link to LOL Buffy:
[link]
It's fascinating, the different kinds of things that can go wrong in making a person, and then what that means throughout a person's life.
I still love all the LOLs.
