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I'd recommend the book "the man who mistook his wife for a hat" by Oliver Sacks which I seem to remember digs into some phenomonon like these.

There are very interesting differences between certain lesions in the left side of the brain, and in the right side. For instance there are some people that are blind, but do not believe that they are, and vice versa, which lines up with your experience.



This is a great look at just got complicated the brain is. What we experience and are conciously aware of, is only a fraction of the activity in one's brain. People that are convinced their limbs aren't their own, people that lose the comprehension of the concept of 'the left side'(ie of their body), people that are convinced they are stuck in the year 1990-- the brain works in a very specific way and damage to certain areas can derange the whole process and create unexpected effects. Often this is losing access to functionality that we think "just is"-- when in fact such functionality is the result of a complex integrated circuit in the brain.


I've read the book. It's an old favorite. Thanks for suggesting it, though.


Oliver Sacks was always one of my favorites to hear on RadioLab. He was just a joy to listen to.




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