How do they look at a brain and know that if they cut this tiny section they could cut off fine motor control, and this section is responsible for memories, etc. It all looks the same!
In: 5
It doesn’t all look the same. There are certain anatomical “landmarks” you see in every brain. You know those folds and grooves? They aren’t random. They follow a predictable pattern that you see in every human, even if there are some differences on a detailed level. For instance, every human has a groove about midway through their brain, between the front and back halves. This groove is called the *central* *sulcus*, and it is the border between the *frontal* and *parietal lobes*. Right in front of the central sulcus is a fold that always contains the *primary motor cortex* – the brain area that sends commands to your muscles and allows you to make voluntary movements. In the back of the brain, in the occipital lobe and parts of the temporal and parietal lobes, you’ll find the visual cortex. And so forth.
In other words, we have a coarse “map” of the brain that allows us to find our way and tell different parts apart. It’s not perfect though, and there is variability between people. This is why, if there is some crucial brain function that needs to be preserved, they sometimes wake the patient up in the middle of brain surgery, to kind of “poke around” a little in different places and see whether it causes any problems. For instance, for a musician it would be devastating to lose their ability to play their instrument. So they might get them to play their instrument while the surgeon disturbs different parts of the brain near where she wants to cut away tissue (e.g. to remove a tumor). If any point the patient can’t play while a certain location is being “poked”, the surgeon knows not to remove that part.
Latest Answers