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July 06, 2008 | 69°F mist

Radiolab

Where is that part that is "me"?

Mind Wide Open Looking into a mirror as a young child, Steven Johnson wondered, "How is that me?" We try to find that part of the brain that recognizes ones self with Montclair State University Professor Julian Keenan. Turns out: only half of your brain really knows who you are. Also, Independent radio producer Hannah Palin tells about her mother, who, after suffering an aneurism, woke up with a completely different personality. She looks the same, and has the same memories, but where did her old mother go? One possible answer: Vietnam. Later, Paul Broks continues the discussion on the fragility of the self.

Steven Johnson's Book: Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life
Julian Keenan's Book: The Face in the Mirror: The Search for the Origins of Consciousness
Paul Broks' book: Into The Silent Land: Travels in Neuropsychology
Hear a longer version of Hannah Palin's story on Transom.org

  • "Prologue"   Alexandre Desplat - From the film Birth - New Line Records
  • "Fount"   Fourcolor - Water Mirror - Apestaartje
  • "The Little Green Thing"   Tom Recchion - L.A.F.M.S./The Lowest Form Of Music - RRRecords
  • "Quartet #3 in F Major, Op. 73"   Emerson String Quartet - Dmitri Shostakovich: The String Quartets - Deutsche Grammophon
  • "Hiraethus"   Daedalus - Of Snowdonia - Plug Research
  • "Houston in Two Seconds"   Ry Cooder - From the film Paris, Texas
  • "Theme From Alamo Bay"   Ry Cooder - From the film Alamo Bay
  • "East St. Louis"   Ry Cooder - From the film Trespass

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