From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!utcsri!rpi!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!sdd.hp.com!mips!darwin.sura.net!cs.ucf.edu!news Thu Jul  9 16:20:21 EDT 1992
Article 6406 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: long@next3.acme.ucf.edu (Richard Long)
Subject: Re: Intelligence without a brain? Just the facts.
Message-ID: <1992Jul1.134153.11838@cs.ucf.edu>
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Organization: University of Central Florida
References: <1992Jun30.154051.19263@sequent.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 1992 13:41:53 GMT
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In article <1992Jun30.154051.19263@sequent.com> bfish@sequent.com (Brett  
Fishburne) writes:
> I have followed this thread with interest.  I had an older brother who
> suffered from hydrocephallus (sp?).  He was born in 1963, while the  
shunt
(tragic personal story deleted.  You should, however, read the original in  
its entirety)


> I think it is necessary to prevent this net from having the idea that  
these
> children are fine despite the cavities in their heads and the dispersed 
> brain matter.  My brother did not benefit from the shunt like so many  
children
> have today, but perhaps even his rudimentary abilities are a testiment  
to the
> resiliency of the human brain, not a lack of intelligence derived  
therefrom.
> Please understand that even with the shunt many of these children suffer
> from learning disabilities (I know from personal contact).  My  
experience
> has been biased towards those who have suffered rather than those who  
have
> overcome this handicap, but I think that the point being made here is  
valid.
> Simply because some children can continue to function with a brain which  
has
> been compressed against their skull, does not support the argument that  
the
> intelligence which they exhibit is not contained _within_ that brain.   
Moreover,
> it does not support the position that if the matter which was destroyed  
had
> not been destroyed, it would be unused.  Unfortunately, this experience  
can
> only serve as anacdotal evidence that the brain can survive enormous 
> trauma.
> 
> -- Brett
> 
> bfish@sequent.com
If anyone has gotten the impression from my post that the majority of  
hydrocephalics are somehow normal, then I should have clarified it better.   
The vast majority of hydrocephalics unfortunately either die very young or  
suffer profound mental disability (if not give a shunt early).  I simply  
wanted to show that stories of a few unique isolated cases of "near  
brainless" intelligence is not an "urban myth" as Bill Skaggs suggested.   
The point I wanted to make is this: when combined with cortical ablation  
studies in young infant monkeys; the work by Mriganka Sur in which the  
thalamic visual projections were rerouted to the auditory cortex with the  
development of visual receptive fields; and the work of Schlaggar and  
O'Leary in which visual cortex was transplanted into somatosensory  
cortex-- all of this suggests that the cortex is largely self-organizing,  
and can reorganize itself under extreme conditions.  It seems possible  
that if the cortical trauma occurs early enough in development and if the  
subcortical regions are largely unaffected, then the cortex can develop  
around the damaged regions.  In other words, the idea that the cortex has  
genetically and developmentally predefined "centers" needs to be  
reexamined.  These centers will, I think, turn out to be emergent  
structures, in the spirit (not the detail) of Edelman and the dynamical  
systems approach.  The implication for AI models of working brains is  
clear, I think.


REFERENCES

Roe, A., et. al. (Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, 
     Cambridge).  "A map of visual space induced in primary auditory
     cortex."  SCIENCE 250(4982): 818-20.  1990.

Schlagger, B. and D. O'Leary.  "Potential of visual cortex to develop an
     array of functional units unique to somatosensory cortex."  SCIENCE
     252: 1556-60.  Jun 14, 1991.

Sur, Mriganka (Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, 
     Cambridge).  "Visual plasticity in the auditory pathway:
     visual inputs induced into auditory thalamus and cortex illustrate
     principles fo adaptive orgainzation in sensory systems."  (Source
     journal lost).


--
Richard Long
Institute for Simulation and Training
University of Central Florida
12424 Research Parkway, Suite 300, Orlando, FL 32826
(407)658-5026, FAX: (407)658-5059
long@acme.ucf.edu


