3 ms·

https://npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/03/16/392789753/a-man-s-incomplete-brain-reveals-cerebellum-s-role-in-thought-and-emotion https://npr.org/sections/he

https://npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/03/16/392789753/a-man-s-incomplete-brain-reveals-cerebellum-s-role-in-thought-and-emotion https://npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/03/16/392789753/a... https://irishtimes.com/news/remarkable-story-of-maths-genius-who-had-almost-no-brain-1.1026845 https://irishtimes.com/news/remarkable-story-of-maths-genius... https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/64017/what-sections-of-the-brain-can-be-removed-without-causing-instant-death https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/64017/what-secti... https://cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-thursday-edition-1.3679117/scientists-research-man-missing-90-of-his-brain-who-leads-a-normal-life-1.3679125 https://cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-thursday-edit...

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bonsai_spool 1y ago
Your first example is someone without a cerebellum which is not like the others. The other examples are people with compressed neural tissue but that is not the same as never having the tissue. A being with only a cerebellum could not behave like a human.
- adamzwasserman 1y ago
  You're right - I mixed up cerebellum/cerebrum/cortex terminology. My bad. The cases I'm referencing are hydrocephalus patients with severely compressed cerebral tissue who maintained normal cognitive function. The point about structural variation not precluding consciousness stands.
  - bonsai_spool 1y ago
    > You're right - I mixed up cerebellum/cerebrum/cortex terminology. My bad. The cases I'm referencing are hydrocephalus patients with severely compressed cerebral tissue who maintained normal cognitive function. The point about structural variation not precluding consciousness stands. Hmm, I don't think it would be dogmatic to call hydrocephalus-induced changes 'structural variation.' Structural variation would be the thickness of subcortical bands or something like that - something where if you take 100 people, you'll see some sort of canonical distribution around a population mean. Instead, you're describing a disease-induced change (structural yes, but not variation but instead pathology). We're now in a different regime; we don't expect just any disease to reduce consciousness, so it stands to reason that hydrocephalus would not necessarily reduce consciousness.
jdadj 1y ago
"We have documented cases of humans leading normal lives with little to no brain beyond a cerebellum" -- I take this to mean that these are humans that have a cerebellum but not much else. Your npr.org link talks about the opposite -- regular brain, but no cerebellum. Your irishtimes.com link talks about cerebrum, which is not the same as cerebellum. Your biology.stackexchange.com link talks about Cerebral Cortex, which is also not the same as cerebellum. And the cbc.ca link does not contain the string "cere" on the page.
- adamzwasserman 1y ago
  You're right - I mixed up cerebellum/cerebrum/cortex terminology. My bad. The cases I'm referencing are hydrocephalus patients with severely compressed cerebral tissue who maintained normal cognitive function. The point about structural variation not precluding consciousness stands."

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

bonsai_spool 1y ago

Your first example is someone without a cerebellum which is not like the others. The other examples are people with compressed neural tissue but that is not the same as never having the tissue. A being with only a cerebellum could not behave like a human.

adamzwasserman 1y ago
You're right - I mixed up cerebellum/cerebrum/cortex terminology. My bad. The cases I'm referencing are hydrocephalus patients with severely compressed cerebral tissue who maintained normal cognitive function. The point about structural variation not precluding consciousness stands.
- bonsai_spool 1y ago
  > You're right - I mixed up cerebellum/cerebrum/cortex terminology. My bad. The cases I'm referencing are hydrocephalus patients with severely compressed cerebral tissue who maintained normal cognitive function. The point about structural variation not precluding consciousness stands. Hmm, I don't think it would be dogmatic to call hydrocephalus-induced changes 'structural variation.' Structural variation would be the thickness of subcortical bands or something like that - something where if you take 100 people, you'll see some sort of canonical distribution around a population mean. Instead, you're describing a disease-induced change (structural yes, but not variation but instead pathology). We're now in a different regime; we don't expect just any disease to reduce consciousness, so it stands to reason that hydrocephalus would not necessarily reduce consciousness.

jdadj 1y ago

"We have documented cases of humans leading normal lives with little to no brain beyond a cerebellum" -- I take this to mean that these are humans that have a cerebellum but not much else. Your npr.org link talks about the opposite -- regular brain, but no cerebellum. Your irishtimes.com link talks about cerebrum, which is not the same as cerebellum. Your biology.stackexchange.com link talks about Cerebral Cortex, which is also not the same as cerebellum. And the cbc.ca link does not contain the string "cere" on the page.

adamzwasserman 1y ago
You're right - I mixed up cerebellum/cerebrum/cortex terminology. My bad. The cases I'm referencing are hydrocephalus patients with severely compressed cerebral tissue who maintained normal cognitive function. The point about structural variation not precluding consciousness stands."