CONSCIOUSNESS AND COMMISSUROTOMY .5. CONCERNING AN HYPOTHESIS OF NORMAL DUAL CONSCIOUSNESS

Against the commissural-integrative hypothesis, Puccetti argues that a ll normal people have two streams of consciousness; the cerebral commi ssures cannot fuse into a single stream any processes proceeding in di fferent hemispheres. Against Puccetti, it is argued that, since the sa me kind of connecting fibers must be responsible for our having unifie d cross-modal experiences, they must be able to do the job, as well, o f integrating processes across hemispheres. In response to this argume nt and in a pluralistic effort to instigate further development of Puc cetti's hypothesis, I present a ''Puccetti-compatible'' account of cro ss-modal integration, which (a) does not assign this function to conne cting fibres and (b) proposes two integrative conscious foci, one in e ach hemisphere of both normal and commissurotomized individuals. Also, I introduce a close alternative to the Puccetti-compatible account, w hich postulates a functioning integrative conscious focus in the domin ant cerebral hemisphere of normal people, but only a potentially funct ioning integrative conscious focus in their nondominant hemispherectom y, or drugging the dominant hemisphere. Thus, this article is preparat ion for the next article in this series, which will examine what evide nce proposed or possible exists for an actually functioning integrativ e conscious focus in the fully connected, health nondominant hemispher e.