The Left Brain's Interpreter

This and other split-brain experiments show that ...

• Each of us has an interpreter in our left hemisphere.

• This interpreter constructs theories about why we act and behave the way we do.

• Thousands (perhaps millions) of brain activities go on relatively independently of one another and all outside the realm of conscious experience.  They affect body movements, emotions, thoughts, ....

• Once these brain activities are expressed, the expressions become events that the conscious system takes note of and that the interpreter must explain.

--- "tip of the tongue" phenomena

--- "unconscious" problem solving

• The interpreter constructs our conscious reality by interpreting the (limited and fragmentary) data available to it.

• Your conscious life is an "afterthought" constructed by the interpreter.

Source:  Gazzaniga, Michael S., Mind Matters

back | next page

Return to Honors PS1500 home page

Last modified:  Friday, March 26, 2004 11:11 AM