Hydrocephalous and Consciousness
May, 2004

Hydrocephalous is an abnormal condition in which cerebrospinal fluid collects in the ventricles of the brain. Often fatal, the disorder can result in complete or near complete destruction of the cerebral cortex. The term hydrocephalous is the combination of two Latin words meaning "water" and "head."

Hydrocephalus specifically means an abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid within the skull, and can occur due to congenital defects, trauma to the head, etc. We will be looking specifically at congenital hydrocephalous within this essay.

In infants hydrocephalus can cause abnormally rapid growth of the head, as well as destroy brain tissue. Often the cerebral cortex within children born with this disorder is completely absent, or destroyed to such a degree as to be considered negligible. Such children are considered "decorticate," or completely without a cortex. In other cases the degree of damage is not so severe, and larger portions of the brain remain. Hydrocephalus is almost always fatal eventually. Most children that are born with hydrocephalus die quite young.

It is generally acknowledged that children with hydrocephalus will be mentally retarded, often to the degree of being "vegetative," and that the quality of life that they lead will not be a fulfilling or rewarding one. On the other hand, there is some controversy regarding exactly how much a child with hydrocephalus, whose brain is almost completely absent, is consciously aware of. D. Alan Shewmon MD, Gregory L. Holmes MD and Paul A. Byrne, MD FAAP have written a paper called "Consciousness in Congenitally Decorticate Children: 'Developmental Vegetative State' as Self-Fulfilling Prophecy" that discusses these issues, and gives a very compelling account of the ability of children that modern science would consider "brain dead" to be perceive and react to the world around them.

As his title dictates, Dr. Shewmon feels that once a child is diagnosed as decorticate, or "brain dead," that infant care is assumed to be a waste of time and these children are really just fed and housed, with little stimulation or attention. He clearly shows within four case studies in the article that these children are indeed aware of the world around them, and perhaps that the lack of attention that they get as infants may account for some of their cognitive and perceptual deficiencies. The point of the paper is really to call attention to this issue, but the article points out some other very surprising details.

He shows that children that can be considered decorticate, or without a cortex, smile, respond to their name, are fascinated with their reflection a mirror, enjoy and respond to music, etc. By all accounts of modern science and its study of the cortex, these children should not even be able to see or hear, much less respond to stimuli from the world around them. Indeed, two of the children are blind, but one of the children described is able to see and respond to visual stimuli, and yet has no occipital cortex. It is something of a miracle that this child can see, considering that the child does not even have the very part of the brain that they are supposed to see with, the occipital cortex.

But that is not the only remarkable example that can be found that relates to the sufferers of hydrocephalus. Emeritus Professor John Lorber published a paper called "Is the brain really necessary?" in which he cited references to several adults that suffered from congenital hydrocephalous, and broke down those in the study into four categories.

*Those with 50-70% of the cranium filled with cerebrospinal fluid

*Those with 70-90% of the cranium filled with CSF

*and the most severe group with 95% of the cranial cavity filled with cerebrospinal fluid.

Of the last group, which comprised less than ten percent of the study, half were profoundly retarded. The remaining half had IQs greater than 100. What would seem unusual in this study is that anybody at all could have an IQ of 100 or great with a brain that is only 5% of it's regular size!

The effects of hydrocephalous are slightly different in Dr. Shewmon's study than in the study done by Dr. Lorber. In Dr. Shewmon's study the children were considered decorticate, or completely without a cortex. In Dr. Lorber's study, the subjects did have a cortex, albeit a very small and deformed cortex. In the case of dr. Lorber's study the brain was displaced by cerbospinal fluid to the degree that the cortex was like a very thin layer within the skull.

Two of the case studies described by Dr. Lorber were quite significant. One described a man reffered to Dr. Lorber by a colleague at Sheffield University, because the young man appeared to have a larger than normal head. He was referred to Lorber even though the size of the young man's head had not caused the young man any difficulty. Although the boy had an IQ of 126 and had a first class honors degree in mathematics, Lorber found that the young man had "virtually no brain," or a brain that was less than 5% of the size expected in an adult. An IQ of 126 is about the same as the average medical doctor.

In another case study Lorber described a man that was not considered brilliant, but was a janitor, and well liked in the community. He was a popular figure in his neighborhood, and read the newspaper daily. It was not until an autopsy was performed that it was determined that the subject's brain was also less than 5% of it's expected size. In both cases it was not until the individual was an adult was it suspected that either subject had hydrocephalous, nor was it suspected that their brains were so malformed.

Before his death, Dr. Lorber had collected data on over 270 individuals that fit this category of a brain that was less than 5% of it's expected size, and an IQ of over 100.

Science has not really had much to say in way of an explanation for this phenomenon. Current reductionistic science has not really been able to make Dr. Lorber's (or even Dr. Shewmon's) evidence fit within its current models of the brain, or consciousness. "Although the deeper brain structures may carry on much of the body's work, the cortex is supposed to be a late evolutionary development that gave humans their vaunted mental powers and superiority over the other animals." [lewin] If the cortex can be nearly absent with little or no mental impairment, what is it for in the first place?

Dr. Shewmon called the phenomenon of the brain's apparent ability to use other parts of the brain to perform the task of the cortex "vertical plasticity," a reference to abitity of the cortex to find new pathways when damaged. (Shewmon) But there is actually no evidence of this, and Dr. Shewmon states clearly that this is only a theory.

One thing that did result out of Lorber's study was that many felt that it proved the false notion that we only use 10% of our brain. The origins of this misconception remain obscure, but according to Barry Beyerstein, they have long been a staple of self-improvement courses like those of the Dale Carnegie organization. "It was canonized by no less a personage than Albert Einstein who once uttered it as a speculative reply to the constant barrage of questions about the source of his brilliance." According to Dr. Beyerstein. There is also no merit in the concept that we only use 10% of our brain, according to the author. Lorber had never intended his study to be used to support this claim. (Beyerstein)

journals.cambridge.org: "Consciousness in Congenitally Decorticate Children: 'Developmental Vegetative State' as Self-Fulfilling Prophecy"
Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology 1999, 41: 364–374.

Roger Lewin, "Is Your Brain Really Necessary?"
Science 210 December 1980, p. 1232

flatrock.org.nz: "Is the Brain Really Necessary?"

indiana.edu/~pietsch: Brain Shrinks, Yet Thinks

indiana.edu/~pietsch: The Late Emeritus Professor John Lorber (1915-1996)

infobluebook.com: Is Your Brain Really Necessary?

ial.goldthread.com: Articles

mysteries.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk: Running on Empty

nature.com: The man with a hole in his brain

Wikipedia: John Lorber

Wikipedia: Roger Lewin

mindhacks.com: The necessity of the brain: a slight return

"THE 10% SOLUTION", Barry Beyerstein
From the Rational Enquirer, Vol 3, No. 2, Oct 89.