46 pages • 1 hour read
Jill Bolte TaylorMy Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2006A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 3-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 3 Summary: “Hemispheric Asymmetries”
In 1780, Meinard Simon Du Pui was the first scientist to hypothesize that each of the brain’s hemispheres “had its own mind” (27). Investigation into these hemispheres became more popular by the 1970s, when American scientist Dr. Roger W. Sperry cut the corpus callosum (that information highway between the left and right hemispheres) in patients experiencing seizures.
Dr. Sperry proved that the hemispheres function differently when they are separated, and that when surgically disconnected, one or the other hemisphere becomes dominant. Since these distinct hemispheres can only be used one at a time, they are like “independent brains” that may create a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” personality in the patient (28). With modern fMRI imaging, scientists now understand which neurons help complete different tasks and that our hemispheres are usually very “neuronally integrated” (28). As a result, modern neuroscientists consider the brain’s hemispheres as “complementary halves of the same whole” (29).
Dominance in the brain refers to a hemisphere’s ability to process language and does not depend on whether someone is right-handed or left-handed (29). The author then describes the asymmetries between the brain’s hemispheres, detailing how the right hemisphere controls the left side of our body while the left hemisphere does the opposite (29). The right hemisphere can also create “complex mental collages” and connections between memories (30). The right mind is more creative and uninhibited and helps us with big-picture thinking, such as recognizing our connectedness to each other and having empathy for others (30). In contrast, the left hemisphere is more logical and linear, taking the information from the right hemisphere and sorting it into a methodical configuration (31). Taylor gives the example of looking at shoes and socks and understanding that you have to put on socks before the shoes. The left hemisphere is also responsible for producing brain chatter, or one’s inner monologue (31).
Individuals' thinking speeds vary depending on each brain’s inherent differences. The left hemisphere’s brain chatter maintains specific memories that help us retain our identities and basic information about ourselves, a function that Taylor nicknames our “ego center” (32). This ego center generates comparisons to determine our social standing and level of ability relative to others. It also creates patterns of responses to stimulation to process information more rapidly; these thought patterns become more easily triggered the more often one uses them. The left and right hemispheres are constantly cooperating to help people complete their tasks. For example, when the left hemisphere coordinates grammar usage, it focuses on words’ logical meaning while the right hemisphere focuses on more qualitative factors like tone and body language.
Taylor shares that her stroke occurred in her brain’s left hemisphere and left her so injured she felt like an infant in an adult’s body. After a successful surgery that removed a large blood clot from her brain, Taylor began eight years of psychological and physical healing to recover from her stroke.
Chapter 4 Summary: “Morning of the Stroke”
Taylor’s first symptom of her stroke is a sharp pain behind her eye. She then feels a disassociation where her mind-body connection seems broken, making her feel as if she were watching herself move rather than moving directly (38). While walking to her bathroom, she can tell that her physical movements are jerky and unbalanced (39). Nevertheless, she climbs into the shower and is shocked by how loud the sound of the water is. Considering all of these issues, Taylor finally realizes she may be having a “major neurological malfunction” (39). As she tries to analyze her health from a neuroscience perspective, Taylor’s “brain chatter” becomes choppy and incoherent, causing her to feel lonely. Regardless, Taylor tries to think of what could be happening to her and if she has experienced this before, but she cannot focus on her thoughts.
Instead, she feels peace and euphoria as her left hemisphere shuts down, leaving her with the feeling of taking a “good road home” (41). Sitting in her shower, Taylor cannot perceive her surroundings properly and feels that she is a fluid. In the absence of her ego center, Taylor is only aware that she is a fully alive, conscious being but is not aware of her personality. She enjoys the experience of switching off the linear, logical part of her brain and feeling “at one” with her body” (43).
After this period of calm, Taylor registers a tingling in her chest and throat and begins to engage with reality more (43). Through broken thoughts, she manages to leave the shower and dress. When her right arm becomes immovable, she finally has the realization that she is having a stroke. Taylor vacillates between feeling fascinated and euphoric and recognizing the immense danger of her situation. Looking at herself in a mirror, she feels that her body is a “precious and fragile gift” that is like a “portal” allowing her energy to exist (45). Her brain continues to produce competing chatter, with some thoughts brushing off the stroke as an inconvenience to her busy schedule, while others tell her to not forget what she has realized about herself.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Orchestrating my Rescue”
As the blood from her burst artery continues to leak blood over her brain’s left hemisphere, Taylor loses the ability to focus on seeking help. She has lucid moments where she tries to plan yet finds herself “chasing random thoughts” and feeling distracted (47). She feels her ability to recall numbers and process language, even within her own mind, decreasing rapidly, and instead being replaced with an “enticing inner peace” (47). As this brain injury unfolds, Taylor is distressed at the thought of permanently losing access to the great stores of information her brain normally maintains. Her loss of normal brain function also changes how she experiences time, making it feel like one endless moment; it also obscures her memories. Losing the boundaries of her “earthly body” and her awareness of temporality, Taylor feels as though she is melting into the world (49). She compares this state of mind to “Thetaville,” the brain state in which we doze off to sleep, and ponders if it is similar to the Buddhist concept of nirvana.
Taylor manages to enter her home office, dimming the lights and trying to remember her task. With her brain’s organization center in distress, Taylor cannot recall the number for 911 or that she can seek help from her landlady. She reaches her phone and is unsure what to do next, and stares at the keypad, waiting. In spite of her severely aching head, Taylor remembers her mother’s phone number but hesitates to call her with such frightening news. She knows that she works at the Brain Bank and wants to ring her colleagues but cannot remember her work number. Relating these details, Taylor admits that she was always a more right-brained person who excelled with big-picture thinking rather than recalling specific facts.
The author sits and concentrates on her task, repeating her question to herself. She finally remembers four digits of her work number, and uses her left hand to write it down; she is normally right-handed, but her right arm ceased functioning. She then recalls the initial numbers 855, and adds them to her number. As Taylor prepares to make her phone call, she feels vulnerable and distressed and tries to mentally practice what she needs to say and stay focused, which she compares to hanging onto a slippery fish.
During her next “wave of clarity,” Taylor dials her work number and is relieved when her colleague Steve answers the phone (55). With her left hemisphere so damaged, however, she can barely compute his speech and cannot form her own either, only expressing herself in “grunts and groans” (55). While she cannot understand Steve’s response, she can tell by the soft tones of his reply that he is going to send help (55).
Chapters 3-5 Analysis
To understand why stroke sufferers can show very different types of brain injuries, Taylor details the different functions of the left and right hemispheres of the brain. She dedicates Chapter 3 to this subject and provides a brief history of brain research. Taylor uses everyday examples to help the reader understand the types of tasks these hemispheres accomplish. For example, she notes that linear thinking is an important skill in everyday life to complete even simple tasks like putting your socks on before your shoes. Likewise, she describes the left hemisphere’s brain chatter as “that voice reminding you to pick up bananas on your way home” (31). These examples make the arcane subject of brain science accessible to nonspecialist readers to keep them engaged in the story.
As the author begins relating her own experience of stroke, she uses descriptive language to create a detailed setting and inner world for the reader to imagine. She compares the piercing pain of her stroke headache to the “caustic sensation that sometimes accompanies biting into ice cream” (37) while she begins to perceive her hands as “primitive claws” (38). She recalls that even though she was confused and concerned, she often felt “enfolded by a blanket of tranquil euphoria” (41). The author presents the thoughts that interrupt her narrative in italics, giving the reader a sense of her disjointed experience and mental state. She explains each of her actions in detail, giving the reader insight into her changeable state of mind, which switches from panic, to planning, to confusion, and then peacefulness. This engaging prose builds suspense for the reader as Taylor describes the broken thoughts and moments of distraction that are preventing her from contacting help. Her thorough exploration of how she reacted to her stroke realistically depicts the rollercoaster of thoughts her brain generates as it becomes increasingly damaged by the escaping blood. Taylor’s scientific background does not prevent her from describing the spiritual aspects of her experience. Her openness here foregrounds her identity as a human being in an extremely vulnerable state, rather than as a scientist who commands specialized knowledge on the subject.
