Saturday, April 18, 2009

Sceintific investigation of "Self Awareness"

Researchers presented to the test persons photos of their own face and of their partner (wife or friend) for comparison, in order to be able to control (“shorten out”) emotional reactions on known faces. For further comparison photos of unknown men and women were presented.

When looking at their own face broad areas of the right-hemispheric limbic system and the left frontal lope were activated, whereas when looking at the partner only a small area in the right hemisphere of the brain was activated.
The results show a dramatic difference in the neuronal processing of the own face in comparison to the one of an emotionally close person. In terms of brain evolution very young areas of the brain take part in self recognition: areas of the left frontal lobe, which are brought in connection with the ability of self reflection; but also the very old limbic system participates, which perhaps has to do with the diffuse feeling of “self” or “I”.

These studies could show for the first time, that “self-awareness” can be investigated by scientific methods. Through this, also completely new possibilities open up for studying frequent diseases as schizophrenia, which are accompanied by a fundamental disturbance of self-awareness.

Monday, April 13, 2009

After transplant, brain rewires left hand first

When patients had both hands transplanted, their brains re-established connections much more quickly with the left hand than the right, a team of researchers in France reports.

The sample was small, just two patients, but both had been right-handed before losing their hands, and both followed a pattern of reconnection with their brain that was quicker for the left hand.

The researchers said more study is needed to determine why the brain reconnected more efficiently to the left hand in these patients. Possibilities include a basically better connection to the left hand, factors in the way that the brain reorganizes itself during the process of the loss of a hand and its later replacement, or perhaps some pre-existing difference in brain organization.

In general, experiments have shown that the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and many researchers believe it also dominates in such areas as spatial abilities, face recognition, visual imagery and music. The left side of the brain controls the right side of the body and is thought to dominate in language, mathematics and logic. However, many traits are shared by both sides, and if one side is damaged the other can take over many of its functions