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Asked by AnimalNerd to yoyehudi, Oli, Nina, Kerrianne, Ed on 7 Nov 2017.
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anon answered on 7 Nov 2017:
You absolutely can survive when missing parts of your brain, but it might affect your personality or your ability to do certain things.
A great example of this is Phineas Gage, he was a railway worker in America in the 1800s. He was in an accident at work and ended up having a large metal spike fired through his head and brain.
Everyone thought he would die. He didn’t, he lived, but his personality completely changed – you can read all about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage
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Oli Wilson answered on 8 Nov 2017:
The story of Phineas Gage really is a fascinating one – have a read of the link Theo mentioned.
One thing on this subject that springs to my mind is an article I read in a National Geographic magazine many years ago when I was at school. It showed brain scans of people who had lost a sense (e.g. who were blind or deaf) – it turned out that the areas of the brain that would usually be involved in processing vision in blind people would start helping out with the processing of other senses. It might explain how, when they lose one sense, some people get more sensitive to other ones. This is called neuroplasticity, and it’s hugely important in recovery from brain injuries – as well as the transition from childhood to adulthood. You might like to read this article on the subject: https://theconversation.com/what-is-brain-plasticity-and-why-is-it-so-important-55967
I don’t know enough about brain structure to be helpful on that front, I’m afraid, but I think you can explore a 3D model of a human brain here – it looks interesting if nothing else! https://bigbrain.humanbrainproject.org -
Yo Yehudi answered on 8 Nov 2017:
Well, I came here to mention Phineas Gage but the others got here first 🙂
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Ed Bracey answered on 13 Nov 2017:
You can survive, as long as the damage isn’t too bad.
A lot of what we know about the brain comes from people who have had damage to different parts of it!
As Theo says, there’s Phinease Gage.
There was a man called Henry Molaison who had part of his brain called the hippocampus surgically removed – he couldn’t make new memories after that!
There was a man called Tan. He could only say “Tan”. He could understand what you told him, but not make any words apart from “Tan”. After he died, they found and area on the left side of his brain was damaged, so we know that part is used for making speech.
There are people who have damage to other parts who for example, can’t see faces, or even movement. The world looks a bit like still photos one after the other!There’s a great book called “The man who mistook his wife for a hat”, by Oliver Sacks, which tells a lot more stories about people who have had damage to their brains and what it’s meant for them, it’s a fascinating read!
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Oli commented on :
(Just realised a better link than the second one I posted – I was thinking of this website when I found the other one: http://www.brainfacts.org/3D-Brain#intro=true It’s great!)