I only skimmed, so may have missed it, but are these conclusions based only on behaviour shortly after (within days?) of decortification, or also much longer? Could functional neuroplasticity have allowed previously unconscious brain structures became conscious after some time? I’d find that surprising, but what neurosplasticity itself can do is surprising! For example, repurposing the auditory cortex in deaf people and or repurposing the visual cortex in blind people, including for echolocation (!). However, these seem to be examples of still existing functions being improved, not totally otherwise absent functions being realized in a different brain region. (I’m just pulling from the Wikipedia page.)
I only skimmed, so may have missed it, but are these conclusions based only on behaviour shortly after (within days?) of decortification, or also much longer?
There are a number of studies, and I haven’t gone through them but I expect the details will differ. Whishaw is clear though that a lot of basic abilities return in the hours following surgery. It isn’t as though the rats return to the helplessness of infancy for a week or so. (Though it is also clear that some part of the return to normal function is a result of re/learning to cope with their deficits.)
Could functional neuroplasticity have allowed previously unconscious brain structures became conscious after some time?
I think that isn’t crazy, even without neuroplasticity. It might be like what many people think about the case of split brain patients, where hemispheric integration disrupts separate consciousnesses that are revealed following a corpus callosotomy. This seems less likely in the case of decortication because my impression is the midbrain structures aren’t as completely integrated into the cortex in the way each hemisphere is with the other, but I could be wrong about that.
I only skimmed, so may have missed it, but are these conclusions based only on behaviour shortly after (within days?) of decortification, or also much longer? Could functional neuroplasticity have allowed previously unconscious brain structures became conscious after some time? I’d find that surprising, but what neurosplasticity itself can do is surprising! For example, repurposing the auditory cortex in deaf people and or repurposing the visual cortex in blind people, including for echolocation (!). However, these seem to be examples of still existing functions being improved, not totally otherwise absent functions being realized in a different brain region. (I’m just pulling from the Wikipedia page.)
There are a number of studies, and I haven’t gone through them but I expect the details will differ. Whishaw is clear though that a lot of basic abilities return in the hours following surgery. It isn’t as though the rats return to the helplessness of infancy for a week or so. (Though it is also clear that some part of the return to normal function is a result of re/learning to cope with their deficits.)
I think that isn’t crazy, even without neuroplasticity. It might be like what many people think about the case of split brain patients, where hemispheric integration disrupts separate consciousnesses that are revealed following a corpus callosotomy. This seems less likely in the case of decortication because my impression is the midbrain structures aren’t as completely integrated into the cortex in the way each hemisphere is with the other, but I could be wrong about that.