A woman missing a fist-sized chunk of her brain never knew it was gone.
Elyse G. is missing most of her left temporal lobe – a region thought to be essential for speech and language. Yet, she speaks, reads, and reasons with remarkable fluency.
Elyse discovered this void in her brain when she was 25 years old, when an MRI revealed a black space the size of a small fist near her left ear. Doctors were stunned. The temporal lobe typically anchors core language functions. Damage there in adulthood can leave patients unable to read, write, or even recognize words. Yet Elyse showed none of these deficits.
Her case, and that of her sister – who independently lacks much of her right temporal lobe – helped inspire the Interesting Brains Project at MIT. The initiative now studies dozens of people whose brains diverge dramatically from the textbook model. Some are missing entire lobes, others live with tissue compressed by cysts or fluid. Many only discovered their differences by accident, after a scan for an unrelated reason.
[“Elyse G.’s Brain Is Fabulous. It’s Also Missing a Big Chunk.” Science News, 14 July 2023. Society for Science] 