Me, My Brain and I

Produced for The Nature of Things, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Bob thinks but doesn't feel. Christina feels but has trouble thinking. Virginia can neither think nor feel as she is pulled down into a spiral of darkness that zaps her very will to survive. Kent lives within a twenty-minute time span, unable to remember his past or plan for his future. Each of these people has had an injury to a part of the brain called the frontal lobes. Their stories, told in Me, My Brain And I, are helping neuroscientists unravel the mystery of what makes us distinctly human.

Not long ago, scientists believed the frontal lobes served no real purpose. Indeed, through the 1970's, the "frontal lobotomy" was a common treatment for severe depression, schizophrenia, alcoholism and a range of other social disorders. Now, three decades later, a whole new picture of the frontal lobes is emerging. Thanks in large part to the work of neuroscientist Donald Stuss and his colleagues in Toronto and Boston, scientists are realizing that within the network of cells and neurons that constitute this once misunderstood region of the brain exists unique abilities. Told through the remarkable stories of brain-injury patients, this program is as much about explaining this unique part of the brain as it is about exploring the essence of who we are.

"Highly recommended. Would enhance college, hospital or medical school library collections." Zana Etter, Dir., Media Library, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, EMRO

52 min. Video or DVD. Sale $295. Video rental $75.