Four-year-old conjoined twins Tatiana and Krista Hogan are an anomaly among anomalies. Not only are they surviving conjoined twins, and not only are they attached at the head, but they actually share part of their brains, the thalamus. Almost unbelievably, Macleans.ca reports, “There is evidence that they can see through each other’s eyes and perhaps share each other’s unspoken thoughts.” The thalamus is the portion of the brain that processes and relays sensory information, and the twins have a “bridge” that runs between theirs. During tests, a neurosurgeon involved in their medical progress found that when one twin looked at an object, the brains of both twins recorded the information. These strange factors have led some to wonder — are the twins two separate people … or one? Their mother reports they have two distinct personalities, but it’s clear that with their brains intertwined, their minds may be far more complex than we can imagine. [Macleans.ca]
