On 26 Mar 1997, Bill Skaggs wrote:
>drgg4 at aol.com (DrGG4) writes:
> >
> > I wonder who here is familiar with John Lorber's studies of people with
> > virtually no brains? Fully functioning adults with little more than a
> > millimeter of cortex and nothing other than huge ventricles beneath that.
> > How can this be possible? And why hasn't this attracted any attention in
> > the neuroscience community?
> > Gary Greenberg
>> This question seems to come up about once a year or so. I'm going to
> take the liberty of reposting something I posted back in 1994 when it
> came up in this newsgroup:
<big snip of interesting stuff>
I've also been intrigued, mystified, and skeptical of the Lorber claims. I
intended to be helpful here by posting some additional references I
obtained on the net, but in getting them, I'm surprised to discover
some originated with Gary Greenberg himself. Nevertheless, for
completeness, I list all the references I know (and possibly all there
are). Since I haven't read the Berker and Priestly references (going to,
now), it's possible that they don't actually refer to his "brainless"
cases.
For anyone interested in Lorber, I also recommend viewing a 50 min video
Lorber made of his patients called predictably "Is Your Brain Really
Necessary". It's available for around $150 US or $75 rental from Films for
the Humanities and Sciences tel. 800-257-5126 or 609-275-1400, FAX
609-275-3767.
The film shows three of his patients together with their brain scans.
Despite a fair amount of filler, it's really quite remarkable.
-Stephen
Lorber, J. (1981). The disposable cortex. Psychology Today, April, p. 126.
Lewin, R. (1980). Is your brain really necessary? Science, 210, 1232--1234.
Berker, E., Goldstein, G., Lorber, J., Priestly, B., & Smith, A. (1992).
Reciprocal neurological developments of twins discordant for hydrocephalus.
Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 34, 623-632.
Priestly, B., & Lorber, J. (1981). Ventricular size and intelligence in
achondroplasia. Zeitschrift fur Kinderchirugie, 34, 332-3326.
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Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661
Bishop's University e-mail: sblack at ubishops.ca
Lennoxville, Quebec
J1M 1Z7
Canada
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