Comparing the points of view presented in the two articles about Corballis and Edwards, I find that both articles offer important insights into the complexity of the human mind. Corballis's research on double consciousness offers an interesting parallel with Edward's ideas about educational curriculum that utilizes and promotes both sides of the brain. I feel that the ideas and work presented in both articles offer interesting concepts about consciousness and the sides of the mind. I particularly liked the practical approaches to utilizing the two sides of the brain, both in school and in the workplace, that Edwards offers. I think further research, similar to Corballis, into brain physiology and physiological psychology is needed to more clearly understand double consciousness.
Corballis has researched people who have had their brains surgically split and people who were born with separated brains, and found that such people seem to experience double consciousness. For example, he found that when such a person is given something to hold in their left hand, the person may not know what it actually is that he or she is holding (Martin, 1998). People who have had a corpus callosum operation are often able to find objects that they cannot perceive. Split-brain patients have also been able to perform tasks specific to each hemisphere of the brain (Carlson, 2000). These and other tests highlight the different functions of the brain's two halves and suggest that the notion of two minds on one brain. Corballis's research and the research of others indicates that the left side of the brain is stronger in language and computation skills, and the right side of the brain is stronger in orientation and spatial skills. In my own life, I have found that people do tend to have stronger skills that are either more aligned with favoring the left-side of their brain or the right. For example, I work with engineers who have stronger computational and analytical skills, but lack the ability to visualize ideas or perceive the feelings of others.
