Brain Bisection and Personal Identity*

The operation is relatively simple in conception, if not in execution. Both a frontal and a posterior opening are made in the top of the skull, followed by mid-line sectioning of the corpus callosum,2 the anterior and hippocampal commissures,3 and in some cases the massa intermedia as well. Upon recovery these patients appear to function just about as well in ordinary situations as before the operation, except for some loss of short term memory. However under testing conditions, where information is

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