somebody's arms

Pick up any psychology or neuroscience textbook and undoubtedly within the first one or two chapters you will come across both these names. The history of neuroscience has been forever changed by these two characters, and with good reason. Franz Joseph Gall pioneered phrenology, the idea of modular brain mapping, where different brain areas act as functionally discrete modules carrying out specific functions. He was absolutely incorrect in this idea, mostly because he emphasized that the skull was an extension of these brain areas. He would claim something along the lines of that if your forehead protruded ever so slightly forward, that meant you were more likely to be aggressive, and went on to state that most prisoners had more protruding foreheads (a generalization that was both incorrect and somewhat bizarre if you think about it - imagine what the heads of Charles Manson or Ted Bundy must've looked like if this were true). While we don't subscribe to brain mapping anymore, we do take his idea of specialized brain areas into consideration, but are very keen to keep in mind that the brain is a functionally connected entity, and no part is truly in itself responsible for any set action. In the meantime though, phrenology has been immortalized in a Roots album, and even Dr. House has a phrenology head in his office.

Phineas Gage, on the other hand, revolutionized psychiatry and neuropsychology since he introduced that anatomical destruction could induce personality changes. This went past simply somatic features, but that you could actually alter one's mind by distrubing a brain region. The brain's mysticism really lies in the Gestalt principle that all the parts are not additive, but are rather a product of its components that build the whole.

Speaking of the mind separable from the brain, I bought a book today that looks like it will be fun:



Beauregard is a well-known cognitive neuroscientist who studies consciousness, specifically bridging religion and neuroscience in a field colloquially referred to as "neurotheology". I think it goes without saying that if you can convince nuns to go under MRI, you're really doing some novel investigation. I'm really looking forward to reading this because I've always stipulated a neural correlate for consciousness (religion included), but I'm sure there's more to the story that I haven't (beau)regarded (haha!). I'll keep you updated as I go.

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Try this on for size: Sarah Slean's Somebody's Arms. It's the version from the Day One album, which is actually her only song that I like better on the album versus live or remastered. Delicious.