Alien Hand Syndrome Research Paper

Alien hand syndrome is a neurological disorder (disorder in the brain). The person, who has alien brain syndrome, loses the feeling of one’s hand and their hand feels as if it is possessed by a force outside of one person’s control.

When a person makes a decision to take a drink from a cup, a signal originates in the frontal lobe of the brain; the frontal lobe’s signal plans and organizes what must take happen in order for the person to take a drink. When the person takes a drink, the brain gives specific instructions: reach for the cup, grasp the handle, bring it to lips, sip, swallow, return the cup, and release grasp. These signals are then sent to the motor strip. The primary motor cortex or motor strip, located in the Brodmann area

4; a brain region that in humans, is located in the dorsal portion of the frontal lobe or in simple terms the top of our head on either side to each ear.

The motor strip works with other motor areas such as the premotor cortex, the supplementary motor area, posterior parietal cortex, and several subcortical brain regions all to produce movements. The frontal lobe sends a signal to the motor strip, and before the person knows it, they’re drinking from a cup. Sending the signal successfully is in thanks to the corpus callosum. The corpus callosum sends nerves that connect and share information between the two hemispheres of the brain. Damage to these nerves results in things such as alien hand syndrome. This damage most often happens during brain aneurysms, in stroke patients and those with infections of the brain, but can also as a side effect of brain surgery, commonly after a radical procedure, often procedures that treat extreme cases of epilepsy. When the callosum is damaged in anyway, it leaves different sections of the brain disconnected and not able to communicate with the other half. With alien hand syndrome, one hand functions normally, carrying out wanted tasks without signaling the other hand, resulting in a hand that can act on its own, sometimes in dysfunctional and unwanted ways. The left hemisphere, which controls the right arm and leg, tends to be where language

skills reside. The right hemisphere, which controls the left side of the body, is largely responsible for spatial awareness and recognizing patterns. Usually the left hemisphere dominates more, having the final say in the actions we perform.
Roger Sperry, a neurobiologist, was the man who did many of the experiments that first proved that alien hand syndrome was real. During an experiment, which was filmed, you can watch one of the patients, with a split brain, trying to solve a puzzle. The puzzle required rearranging blocks so they matched a pattern on a picture Roger gave them. First the patient tried solving it with his left hand (controlled by the right hemisphere), and that hand was pretty good at it. Then Roger Sperry asked the man to use his right hand (controlled by the left hemisphere), this hand clearly did not understand what to do. So the left hand tried to help, but the right hand did not want help, so they ended up “fighting like two young children.” Experiments like this led Sperry to conclude that "each hemisphere is a conscious system in its own right, perceiving, thinking, remembering, reasoning, willing, and emoting". In 1981 Sperry received a Nobel Prize for his work. But in a twist of fate, by the time Roger Sperry was rewarded with his Nobel Prize, he was suffering from a fatal degenerative brain disease himself.
A newer and more famous case study, such as “Four's The Brain: A Secret History”, By Dr. Michael Mosley, was about a 55-year-old named Karen Byrne from New Jersey, who suffers from Alien Hand Syndrome. Karen has it in her left hand, and occasionally her left leg. It started after Karen had surgery at 27 to control her epilepsy, which she had in her life since she was 10. Karen’s surgeon cut her corpus callosum, disconnecting the two halves of her brain. Karen had emerged from her surgery with her left hand out of control.
As you can see, alien hand syndrome is real and is very devastating; curing one problem but creating another problem just as deadly sometimes.