Susan Dominus has penneda remarkable piecefor the New York Times about Krista and Tatiana Hogan , the 4 - class quondam conjoined twin girls from British Columbia who are attached at the head . CAT scan show that the two girl have encephalon that are interconnect by a never - seen - before “ thalamic bridge , ” an denotation that they might divvy up witting thought . And if their early behaviour is any denotation , this may very likely be the case .
Twins link at the brain , what ’s referred to ascraniopagusin the medical literature , are super rarified occurrences , sham only one in 2.5 million giving birth . Most do n’t last . But the Hogan twins are an even rare casing yet . Their neural bod is something that has never been seen before by scientist : their scans reveal an attenuated pipeline stretch between their two brains connect each of theirthalamustogether . What wee this observation particularly interesting is that the thalamus go on to be a variety of neural switchboard , a two - lobed organ that filters most sensory input .
It ’s also thought to meet an of import role in the ascent of conscious awareness .
Thalamic cell nucleus have strong reciprocal association with the intellectual cortex , forming neural circuits that are thought to be involved in consciousness . The thalamus also play a major role in regularize arousal , levels of sentience , and action .
For the Hogan twins , this raises the interesting possibility that they may share both sensory experiences and conscious thought process . Susan Dominus , who spent a considerable amount of time with twins while researching the story , witnessed a number of occasion that strengthened this suggestion . There are also the results from scientific observation :
As fantastic as it vocalize , there is piffling dubiety in [ neurosurgeon Douglas ] Cochrane ’s mind that the girl deal some sensory effect . When they were 2 years honest-to-goodness , he perform a study in which Krista ’s eye were cover up and electrode were glue to her scalp . While a strobe light light flash in Tatiana ’s centre , Krista was breathe a potent galvanic reply from the occipital lobe , which is where images are tack together . The mental test also work when the girl switched theatrical role . The outcome were not published , and some neuroscientists believe that this kind of test , which assess changes in brain action beneath the skull , is imprecise in determining what region of the Einstein is at gambol ; but most would agree that any response in the other similitude ’s brain suggests , at a minimum , connectivity .
Now that the female child are get old , their class is starting to notice more and more of this form of behavior . The girls expend the Scripture “ I ’ interchangeably , at fourth dimension using it to refer to themselves as soul , and at other time as a corporate whole . In fact , they often behave as a single unit , often getting up simultaneously without uttering a word to one another and fulfilling a project like getting a loving cup of water . At the same clock time , they ’re also prostrate to disagreements and battle . Sometimes they scratch up away at the other girl ’s face , and then have to console themselves after bring down the share infliction . And there ’s more :
The resultant role of the test did not surprise the family , who had long distrust that even when one missy ’s vision was angled away from the television , she was express joy at the images flashing in front of her baby ’s eyes . The centripetal exchange , they believe , unfold to the miss ’ taste buds : Krista like tomato ketchup , and Tatiana does not , something the family key out when Tatiana seek to scrape the condiment off her own clapper , even when she was not run through it .
It ’s fairly obvious that the girls partake receptive experience , but as time passes it ’s also becoming evident that the missy also share witting experience . How else to excuse their wordless cooperation ? Only time will severalise as the fille get elderly , and as they become better at articulating the exact nature of their special connection .
Susan Dominus ’s piece is detailed and extended , but definitely worth understand from top to bottom . It ’s insightful , touching , and very personal . The female child have an extremely supportive extended family — one that ’s not willing to make their alone Gemini into carnival freaks or medical test subject area . All they need are their girls to mature up as normally as possible given their rather special circumstances .
Top image via Gizmodo . Body range of a function via NYT .
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