Posted by Adam on June 22, 2000, at 18:19:37
In reply to Re: Some 2-brained theories a radical approach to..., posted by Johnturner77 on June 22, 2000, at 13:41:35
I'm not sure how the nostril thing would work, but it's interesting! The nostrils are, after all, just two openings that lead to the same space; though the portions of the nasal cavity that are bifurcated, and thus differentially cooled by a directed stream of air, might act like the cold ear, I guess. But, when I have a cold, typically if I lay on my side in bed, one side of my nose gets stuffed up, while the other might open a little. I find this equally irritating no matter which side it is, and my mood seems to suffer equally when I wake up.
Then again, could any of this have something to do with waking up on the wrong side of the bed?
I am reminded of a story I heard in some class ages ago, where an epileptic patient, who had been given radical surgery to control his seizures experienced a profound state of duality. The hemispheres of his brain were separated, in the region of the hippocampus I think, which did alleviate his convulsions. However, they left him in a bizarre state of self-conflict, often between his emotional/impulsive and analytical/suppressive "halves". The most dramatic example given was an incident where, upon being irritated by his wife, he had to, with one hand, restrain the other hand, which was poised to strike her. Wheather or not this story contained some embellishments, I don't know. If true, it is a dramatic example of the various forms of hemispherical specialisation in our brains; no one disputes this now, since the advent of high-resolution imaging technologies, which can measure brain activity during specific tasks and in response to particular stimuli.
What I find quite intriguing about it all is the relative physiological parity between the brain hemispheres, and the ability of the brain, sometimes, to adapt compensatorily to injury. There is an certain level of adaptive plasticity, it would seem, that exists in contrast to any ideas of unflexible specialisation of regions of the brain, be they localised to a small portion of the cerebral cortex, or on the hemispherical scale.
I wonder if certain congnitive therapies could be tailored to specifically target hemispherical differences and exploit whatever degree of plasticity nature allows us. Perhaps something beyond a simple talk therapy, something like the perceptual filter described in the goggle experiment, or a combination of talk therepy with certain forms of physical/perceptual depravation and/or stimulation? That might be a powerful tool for therapists.
> "If you tilt a person's head 30 degrees to the side and put ice water into one ear, the opposite brain hemisphere will become activated," he said. Thus cold water in the left ear, activating the right hemisphere, might temporarily reduce the symptoms of mania. Depression might be temporarily reduced by placing cold water in the right ear.
> >
> > Ice water in the ear is a traditional neurological test that has been performed, among other things, on astronauts in space to help understand space sickness. How ice water stimulates one hemisphere is not precisely known, but it seems to activate orientation pathways in one ear (which tell people where they are in space), and these pathways are connected to mid- and higher-brain regions in the opposite side of the head, Pettigrew said.
> >
> > Trying the ice water in his own left ear, Pettigrew, who suffers from manic depression, said, "I sat on my couch at home for 40 hours, ruminating about my life." His left brain was stuck in the depression phase. It was, he said, an unpleasant experience.
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> He must have been really depressed if he didn't try putting ice water in the other ear to try and end it. Maybe he did and was really depressed because it blew his theory :>)
>
> The Yoga technique of breathing through alternate nostrils is supposed to help balance the activities of the two hemispheres. There is supposed to be a natural cycle in the breathing between the two nostrils anyway. first one then the other is slightly(or a lot) more open. As the hemispheric dominance shifts, the air flow is supposed to shift. That would be another experiment to try. During the down cycle does one nostril dominate?
poster:Adam
thread:38054
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000619/msgs/38145.html