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Review of Gazzaniga and Baynes' Consciousness, Introspection, and the Split-
Brain: The Two Minds/One Body Problem
THE MULTIPLE FACETS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
The sum of their main ideas: Consciousness has multiple facets. The two
hemispheres can have different states of consciousness. The right
hemisphere has more limited cognitive capacities than the left one, but
however should be invested with some respectability, cause it is more than
an automaton, demonstrating a variety of complex cognitive abilities as
exhibition of goal-directed behavior, formulating some basic hypotheses
regarding the relation of its actions to the world, the desire to cooperate
with the experimenter in experimental tasks.
Separation of the two hemispheres shows some cognitive function losses
(e.g. writing performace, memory performence) that confirm the principle
that the whole is more than the sum of its parts; that is, some cognitive
tasks implies the unidirectional or bidirectional communication between
different systems, that are not present in both hemispheres, from both
hemispheres. The left hemisphere is the dominant one. The the loss of
communication between hemispheres does not prevent the maintenace of an
independent sense of self.
The brain has modules that operate largely outside the realm of awareness
and of which computational products are sent to various executive systems
that result in behavior or cognitive states. There are multiple executive
systems that can have selective influence over behavior. The left
hemisphere has an interpreter module that manages and interpretes all
constant and parallel activities, both those that origined in it and those
that are not origined in it.
ON THE SELF
The authors presented an interesting case in which a patient was unable to
drive her car because her right hand grabbed the wheel away from her left,
because of a lesion in the corpus callosum. They interpreted this case in
the sense that the Interpreter module sees the actions of the other hand as
being strange and separated by itself.
This case give the impression that the Interpreter module is the seat of
Self. From this would follow that the RH is selfless and that the self
involves a kind of centrality. That the RH can be aware is certain. If
additionaly the RH can stimulate consciously the motor neuronal system, if
the RH can initiate consciously actions, then remain some problems... If
the RH can have percepts, memories, and can initiate conscious actions,
then it seems that involves a kind or grade of self, a less lingvistic
self... Because LH can speak, it seems dominat and the only seat of Self,
but there can be that both hemisheres have selves.
ON CONSCIOUSNESS
Though the work of the autors was |