What Part Of The Brain Would Supernatural Abilities Be Associated With?
I know pretty much nothing about the brain, and I was just curious. I did a little bit of research, and I was thinking that supernatural powers might be associated with the hypothalamus because that’s the part of the brain that controls adrenaline (right?).
Dave B
24 Jan, 2010
if one were to accept that there are “super-natural” powers, they would not necessarily be controlled by the brain: they are super-natural and thus the natural brain need not have anything to do with them.
If they were controlled by the brain, it would be foolish to pick a region. What part of the brain is involved in seeing? we could answer visual cortex, if we looked this up on wiki perhaps, but this would fall short. If one were to remove all parts of the brain except visual cortex, one certainly wouldn’t be able to see. In short, there is no *necessary and sufficient* region of the brain for any of the functions (behavioral or cognitive) that we perform.
If we wanted to generalize a bit, a dumb down the response, we might say it depends on the power. If one is talking about esp, it might be a region not found in others of the same species (ie. an extra region of cortex) or even a combination of other sensory areas. Telekinesis might be in premotor cortex. But to say this we have really lowered the level of thought about how the brain actually works.
If I really had to lie to myself, and give the fake answer, it would be pre-frontal cortex. This is the area that is associated with what people often refer to as “higher” brain functions. Writing that actually made me puke.
Music Man
24 Jan, 2010
I thought it had something to do with the madulaombligata. (sp)