Sir Ken Robinson of the previous response to the TED Talks stated that the current public school system is failing our students. By degrading the flow of creativity, imagination is also disrupted. In this video, Oliver Sacks, a British Neurologist, suggests that certain kinds of hallucinations actually show a great insight into the imagination of a patient, the “machinery” behind the brain, and that having hallucinations do not directly correlate to going insane.
From Oliver Sack’s years of compiled research as a respected physician, he has concluded that, “Normally these hallucinations are all part of the integrated stream of perception, or imagination” (Sacks). Thus, hallucinations show that the mind is over stimulated. His research goes even further when he describes that even when a person becomes blind or “visually impaired” is able to have more of these delusions more frequently or even more in depth, which included more of the senses. For example, the first patient that he discussed was a 95 years old woman who suffered from very detailed hallucinations. However, when beginning the diagnosis, Oliver was not notified that the old woman had been blind for the past five years. After taking this variable into account, Dr. Sacks diagnosed her condition as Charles Bonnet Syndrome. According to Mdsupport.org (Macular Degeneration Support), this is a mental condition where it, “…is characterized by visual hallucinations in people who have a sudden change in vision such as that brought on by macular degeneration. Named after the man who first described it in 1780, it was later defined as "persistent or recurrent visual pseudohallucinatory phenomena of a pleasant or neutral nature in a clear state of consciousness” (Roberts). In other words, people that are in a neutral state of mind and experience visual hallucinations; these people are usually in their old age and have vision problems. In the case of Oliver Sack’s patient, she experienced described her hallucinations as this to her doctor, “’No, it's not like a dream. It's like a movie. It's got color. It's got motion. But it's completely silent, like a silent movie. All these people with Eastern dress, walking up and down, very repetitive, very limited"’ (Sacks).
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Another piece of information that Dr. Sacks describes during his TED Talk is what the “machinery” behind the brain actually is. After multiple fMRI brain imaging scans of patient during hallucinations, he has concluded that many different parts of the brain are incorporated into all types of hallucinations. For example, delusions where victims experience cartoon-like visions are using the majority of the right side of the brain. Similarly to Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind, the right side of the brain is stimulated, producing creative “dreams”. On the other hand, when victims experience hallucinations where detailed faces are scene can be cause by damage to the Temporal Lobe and specifically the Fusiform Gyrus. In addition, whether related to A Whole New Mind, the Fusiform Gyrus is located mainly in the left hemisphere of the brain. Some of it trickles over to the right side, but most is in the left side (paraphrased from “Fusiform”). This mouth-full of a scientific name is simply the part of one’s brain where faces are recognized. People with damage in this area of the brain usually develop symptoms where they have trouble discerning faces.
Finally, Dr. Oliver Sacks has been able to prove that producing symptoms of hallucinations does not automatically mean that one is mentally unstable. Although many-a-nut-job have tried to plead their case to others why they encounter strange visions and feelings, Oliver Sacks has been successful in producing conclusive evidence that shows that many hallucinations are results of the lack of stimulation to certain senses. People that have been blind are often able to produce visions of things that they have never seen such as Dr. Sack’s 95 year old patient. However, this does not mean that visions that one sees in a dream will come true like a “Harry Potter nightmare”. It does mean that one’s nerves are simulating situations through inactive, yet possibly functional sensory organs. On the other hand, some functions of the brain provide evidence that one is in an unstable mental environment. In every day terms, this could be similar to the “out of it” feelings or even extreme migraines. A malfunction of the brain is causing it to perform inefficiently and play tricks on the person’s body.
Dr. Oliver Sacks uses a very scientific method which includes more indisputable facts than clever insights and opinions. An example of this is his multitude of records of patients and other symptoms of different variations of hallucinations. A speaking technique that he used that became more evident as the presentation wore on was that Oliver Sacks sat calmly in a chair and did not mumble or fumble around for a specific fact written down on a piece of paper. In terms of education, Dr. Sack’s research shows that in terms of education, not every person put into special mental deficiency classes truly deserve to be there. One that suffers from hallucinations would obliviously have struggles in school but their mental capabilities could be virtually the same as an average person.
Works Cited
"Fusiform Gyrus." Neuroscience Information Framwork 3.1. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. <http://www.neuinfo.org/nif/nifgwt.html?query=%22Fusiform%20Gyrus%22>.
"Google Images." Google. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. <http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigcH7Mn4SEGaqXaUjX5XzyA9QvEsBzp1j8wBe3MBlXBvMBK4CWSRu3DdnvNBknu1MI8CBjBO-w7-aCmRdGqrD4HPZ9If60z0WUjppcxx8oD3vDzv4BXLPq5LLb0tV9P58arsFYVqb0fGY/s1600/light-blue-women-dress.jpg>.
Roberts, Dan. "Charles Bonnet Syndrome." MD Support. Sept. 2006. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. <http://www.mdsupport.org/library/chbonnet.html>.
Sacks, Oliver. "Oliver Sacks: What Hallucination Reveals about Our Minds | Video on TED.com." TED: Ideas worth Spreading. Sept. 2009. Web. 18 Apr. 2011. <http://www.ted.com/talks/oliver_sacks_what_hallucination_reveals_about_our_minds.html>.
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