Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

Mike or me? Self-recognition in a split-brain patient

Nature Neuroscience volume 5, pages 841–842 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

A split-brain patient (epileptic individual whose corpus callosum had been severed to minimize the spread of seizure activity) was asked to recognize morphed facial stimuli—presented separately to each hemisphere—as either himself or a familiar other. Both hemispheres were capable of face recognition, but the left hemisphere showed a recognition bias for self and the right hemisphere a bias for familiar others. These findings suggest a possible dissociation between self-recognition and more generalized face processing within the human brain.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: A sequence of nine faces was created by morphing MG's face with JW's face in 10% incremental shifts.
Figure 2: Proportion of yes responses to recognition judgements as a function of the percentage of the individual contained in the image and the cerebral hemisphere to which the image was presented.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Keenan, J.P. et al. Trends Cogn. Sci. 4, 338–344 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Kircher, T.T.J. et al. Cogn. Brain Res. 10, 133–144 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Kircher, T.T.J. et al. Cognition 78, 1–15 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Kirchner, T.T.J. et al. Neuropsychologia 40, 683–693 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Keenan, J.P. et al. Nature 409, 305 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Haxby, J.V., Hoffman, E.A. & Gobbini, M.I. Trends Cogn. Sci. 4, 223–233 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. De Renzi, E. Neuropsychologia 24, 385–389 (1994).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Gazzaniga, M.S. & Smylie, C.S. Ann. Neurol. 13, 536–540 (1983).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Keenan, J.P. et al. Neuropsychologia 37, 1421–1425 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Keenan, J.P. et al. Neuropsychologia 38, 1047–1053 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Conway, M.A. & Pleydell-Pearce, C.W. Psychol. Rev. 107, 261–288 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Conway, M.A. et al. Memory 7, 679–702 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Maguire, E.A. & Mummery, C. Hippocampus 9, 54–61 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Gazzaniga, M.S. Sci. Am. 279(6), 51–55 (1998).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank B. Walling for help with the data collection. This work was supported by National Science Foundation grant BCS 0072861 and by National Institutes of Health grant RO1 NS31443.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Moore Hall, Dartmouth College, Hanover, 03755, New Hampshire, USA

    David J. Turk, Todd F. Heatherton, William M. Kelley, Margaret G. Funnell, Michael S. Gazzaniga & C. Neil Macrae

Authors
  1. David J. Turk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Todd F. Heatherton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. William M. Kelley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Margaret G. Funnell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Michael S. Gazzaniga
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. C. Neil Macrae
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David J. Turk.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Turk, D., Heatherton, T., Kelley, W. et al. Mike or me? Self-recognition in a split-brain patient. Nat Neurosci 5, 841–842 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn907

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn907

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing