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Strange brains offer a glimpse into the mind
ScienceNews.org ^ | Aug 13, 2018 | LAURA SANDERS

Posted on 08/13/2018 4:15:31 PM PDT by ETL

To understand the human brain, take note of the rare, the strange and the downright spooky. That’s the premise of two new books, Unthinkable by science writer Helen Thomson and The Disordered Mind by neuroscientist Eric R. Kandel.

Both books describe people with minds that don’t work the same way as everyone else’s. These are people who are convinced that they are dead, for instance; people whose mental illnesses lead to incredible art; people whose memories have been stolen by dementia; people who don’t forget anything. By scrutinizing these cases, the stories offer extreme examples of how the brain creates our realities.

In the tradition of the late neurologist Oliver Sacks (SN: 10/14/17, p. 28), Thomson explores the experiences of nine people with unusual minds. She travels around the world to interview her subjects with compassion and curiosity.

In England, she meets a man who, following a bathtub electrocution, became convinced that he was dead. (Every so often, he still feels “a little bit dead,” he tells Thomson.)

In Los Angeles, she spends time with a 64-year-old man who can remember almost every day of his life in extreme detail.

And in a frightening encounter in a hospital in the United Arab Emirates, she interviews a man with schizophrenia who transmogrifies into a growling tiger.

By visiting them in their element, Thomson presents these people not as parlor tricks, but as fully rendered human beings. ..."

By connecting these strange brains to everyday mental processes, both books make clear how much we all have in common, and more than that, how all our brains are a little bit unusual.

(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Science
KEYWORDS: abby; normal
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1 posted on 08/13/2018 4:15:31 PM PDT by ETL
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To: ETL

And then there is the democrat “brain”.


2 posted on 08/13/2018 4:21:29 PM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: ETL

Save for later reading. This topic fascinates me. So many people are diagnosed with disorders today, that I wonder if what’s being ignored is that the tendency to think differently is absolutely okay.


3 posted on 08/13/2018 4:21:39 PM PDT by grania (President Trump, stop believing the Masters of War!)
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To: ETL
People come out of the rain ... when you're strange.
4 posted on 08/13/2018 4:23:16 PM PDT by TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason.)
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To: ETL

Abby Normal


5 posted on 08/13/2018 4:23:28 PM PDT by nickedknack
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To: grania

“the tendency to think differently is absolutely okay.’

Not always.


6 posted on 08/13/2018 4:24:10 PM PDT by be-baw (still seeking...)
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To: grania

What I find especially incredible is how an injured or damaged brain somehow “rewires” itself, and parts known for certain functions and behaviors suddenly perform new functions.


7 posted on 08/13/2018 4:25:38 PM PDT by ETL (Obama-Hillary, REAL Russia collusion! Uranium-One Deal, Missile Defense, Iran Deal, Nukes: Click ETL)
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To: ETL
A few years ago,while on "safari" in South Africa,I had the opportunity to meet a brain researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.During the day our group went out looking for game and around dusk we went back to the camp for the night (tourists aren't allowed in the Park at night...too dangerous).

Around the fire we'd talk and,given that most of our group was made up of medical personnel,Marten kept us spellbound with his stories of the research that he and his colleagues were doing.

A humbling experience for me...certainly.

8 posted on 08/13/2018 4:32:59 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative (You Say "White Privilege"...I Say "Protestant Work Ethic")
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To: ETL
Had an MRI for squamous skin cancer and the MRI revealed that i have the brain of a 60 year old male, and i'm 90.
9 posted on 08/13/2018 4:34:21 PM PDT by topspinr
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To: ETL
Unthinkable by science writer Helen Thomson and The Disordered Mind by neuroscientist Eric R. Kandel. Both books describe people with minds that don’t work the same way as everyone else’s.

Forwards are by Amy Farrahfowler.

10 posted on 08/13/2018 4:36:51 PM PDT by Don Corleone (Nothing makes the delusional more furious than truth.)
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To: Don Corleone

LOL


11 posted on 08/13/2018 4:40:38 PM PDT by jjotto (Next week, BOOM!, for sure!)
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To: Gay State Conservative
A few years ago, while on "safari" in South Africa, I had the opportunity to meet a brain researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. During the day our group went out looking for game and around dusk we went back to the camp for the night (tourists aren't allowed in the Park at night...too dangerous). Around the fire we'd talk and,given that most of our group was made up of medical personnel, Marten kept us spellbound with his stories of the research that he and his colleagues were doing.

Brings to mind the 50s or 60s sci-fi cult classic The Island of Doctor Moreau!

12 posted on 08/13/2018 4:41:13 PM PDT by ETL (Obama-Hillary, REAL Russia collusion! Uranium-One Deal, Missile Defense, Iran Deal, Nukes: Click ETL)
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To: Gay State Conservative

13 posted on 08/13/2018 4:44:33 PM PDT by ETL (Obama-Hillary, REAL Russia collusion! Uranium-One Deal, Missile Defense, Iran Deal, Nukes: Click ETL)
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To: topspinr
the MRI revealed that i have the brain of a 60 year old male, and i'm 90.

MRI's are not conclusive........

Can you get it up and perform like a 60 year old or is that all in your brain too?..........LOL!

14 posted on 08/13/2018 4:45:16 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (I once found a needle in a haystack but it wasn't the one I was looking for...)
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To: ETL

Related: Top 10 AMAZING SAVANTS With REAL SUPER POWERS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZsJ6BtOh60&t=116s


15 posted on 08/13/2018 4:45:56 PM PDT by heterosupremacist (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.)
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To: topspinr

“Had an MRI for squamous skin cancer and the MRI revealed that i have the brain of a 60 year old male, and i’m 90.”

I had a brain MRI, but they didn’t find anything.

Rimshot!

And I have the mind of an 8 year old!

Bada Boom!


16 posted on 08/13/2018 4:54:19 PM PDT by DaxtonBrown
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To: heterosupremacist

How about a 4-yo like Mozart? Wore himself out before his time. Cast aside . . .


17 posted on 08/13/2018 5:00:53 PM PDT by imardmd1 (Fiat Lux)
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To: ETL

In England, she meets a man who, following a bathtub electrocution, became convinced that he was dead.


If he was “electrocuted” he is dead.


18 posted on 08/13/2018 5:01:09 PM PDT by hanamizu
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To: hanamizu

I was dead once. Came back after they shocked me and was in a coma for 10 days.


19 posted on 08/13/2018 5:06:53 PM PDT by oldasrocks (rump)
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To: DaxtonBrown

I had a brain MRI, but they didn’t find anything.

Rimshot!

HRC had a brain MRI - and that’s when the doctors discovered she had hemorrhoids!

Rimshot!


20 posted on 08/13/2018 5:15:28 PM PDT by heterosupremacist (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.)
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