If the halves of the brain were never connected by the cerebral commissure, then two "persons" might develop (from birth forward). I don't know whether this has ever happened and been observed. — Bitter Crank
Severing the cerebral commissure in someone who has already developed an intellect and personality (using both hemispheres of the brain) results not in two persons, but two now uncoordinated hemispheres. I (quite literally) can not imagine what that would be like. — Bitter Crank
I am loath to admit 2 minds in one brain. Admitting two separate minds in one body gets out of hand very quickly. — Bitter Crank
Interestingly, people can live without the right hemisphere of their brain. On a few occasions, the hemisphere has been removed because of disease. I'm pretty sure nobody who had this done counted it as an improvement, but they didn't drop dead from it, either. I suppose they could live without a right hemisphere (not in addition to losing the right hemisphere, but as an alternative -- though I have met people who appear to be without any brains whatsoever). If the left hemisphere was removed, they wouldn't be able to tell us much about what it was like.
The two hemispheres are not duplicates of each other, but are rather complimentary. Different specialties are allocated to opposite hemispheres -- such as language being in the left hemisphere, while rhythm is a specialty of the right brain. The left brain thinks more in a sequential, linear fashion, while the right brain is given to more of a gestalt, a-linear style. On the other hand, each hemisphere processes left/right body sensory information (sight, hearing, touch, proprioception, smell, taste, etc.). — Bitter Crank
There is an interesting book by a brain anatomist, Stroke of Genius by Jill Bolte Taylor. She suffered a severe stroke; the book is about her recovery and about brain function and anatomy. Easy read, very interesting. Search YouTube for Jill Bolte Taylor and you can watch her TED talk -- summarizes everything in the book. — Bitter Crank
individual hemispheres, though they may coordinate with each other, are capable of operating independently when need be — Alec
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