Could Conjoined Twins Share a Mind?

[elleng]

Suddenly the girls sat up again, with renewed energy, and Krista reached for a cup with a straw in the corner of the crib. “I am drinking really, really, really, really fast,” she announced and started to power-slurp her juice, her face screwed up with the effort. Tatiana was, as always, sitting beside her but not looking at her, and suddenly her eyes went wide. She put her hand right below her sternum, and then she uttered one small word that suggested a world of possibility: “Whoa!”

In any other set of twins, the natural conclusion about the two events — Krista’s drinking, Tatiana’s reaction — would be that they were coincidental: a gulp, a twinge, random simultaneous happenstance. But Krista and Tatiana are not like most other sets of twins. They are connected at their heads, where their skulls merge under a mass of shaggy brown bangs. The girls run and play and go down their backyard slide, but whatever they do, they do together, their heads forever inclined toward each other’s, their neck muscles strong and sinuous from a never-ending workout.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/magazine/could-conjoined-twins-share-a-mind.html?_r=1&hp

[napoleon_in_rags]

1. "It’s like a force of nature — the brain wants to unify."

DEEPLY insightful quote from the article. Man I hope they live long, they have so much to offer.

[elleng]

2. Yes

[DetlefK]

3. A mind is just the user-interface of a brain.

If their minds share information like "have drunk liquid" why shouldn't they share memories or abstract thoughts?

[qazplm]

4. as they get older

it would be interesting to see if they share dreams or have separate dreams.