Question: what would happen if we lost half our brain???

Jen Todd Jones answered on 15 Mar 2013:

Hi immi

If we lost half of our brain the sad truth is we would probably die, but, in a case where we lost half of it but survived it would severely impact the way we live. We use every single part of our brains and losing half of it would mean losing half of our body functions, and depending on which half we’d lose different things.

For example, if you split it right down the middle and you lost the left half, you wouldn’t be able to move the right hand side of your body, limbs or face! You’d also not be able to understand language, or speak or write because of damage to the temporal lobe () and the frontal lobe (). You’d have trouble with remembering things and seeing with your right eye. But if you chopped off the top of your head, you’d keep some understanding of language but probably couldn’t speak – you’d be able to control your face and your legs but not your arms or body (because of the way the body is controlled by different bits of the brain ). And you’d have trouble paying attention to things even though you could probably see just fine because of damage to your parietal lobe ().

All in all I really wouldn’t recommend losing half of your brain, it’s quite the trouble! What parts of your brain function do you think you could live without?

Jen