Downside: there’s no cure Upside: you can play Rock Paper Scissors by yourself

I just hope that when a doctor makes this diagnosis they say: "I'm not saying it's alien hand syndrome... but it's alien hand syndrome."

This made me think of a rare disorder that would make for a great video: Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID). It’s a disorder that causes the person to feel like a certain limb is not theirs, even though they can fully control it and feel it. They often desire for that limb to be removed. It’s a fascinating disorder and comes with many ethical questions that can be interesting to think about.

Talk to the hand...cause it has a mind of its own

I read of an incident where a lady had her corpus colosum separated by surgery. She had difficulty dressing because her left hand wanted bright clothing when she wanted darker clothing. Doctors tested her with a machine that separated visual fields right and left. The right visual field would have an innocuous picture, the left would have something bawdy. The patient was asked to tell what she saw. She would name the right image, but at the same time be embarrassed and giggly because of the left.

The human brain is such a complex system that small errors can lead to weird changes.

Did somebody say ALIEN hand? *X files music intensifies*

A woman tried to post a comment on a youtube video in 1908?

This happened to my father yesterday after he had a stroke. He believes his hand is a separate being and he keeps slapping it to stop it from doing things. It's so sad because he is about to lose his only remaining leg and then to have the other two limbs fighting with one another is cruel.

Decades ago, there were medical procedures intended for the treatment of epilepsy that "simply" cut the corpus callosum using a scalpel. Alien hand syndrome was common after such interventions.

I have occasional minor cases of this with my right hand. If something enters my right peripheral vision, sometimes my right hand will try to smack it away sometimes without my permission or even awareness. I never put sharp objects in righty unless I am able to devote full concentration to it, because it's actually stabbed my left hand a few times in my life. It goes far beyond the fact that I'm left handed, because of how almost purposeful the movements can be.

0:00 They had internet in 1908? 🤔 I knew it

Reminds me of a video called "You are Two". Touched on this same series of syndromes but discussed the idea of dividing the brain in this way split the consciousness from one cohesive unit to 2 parts separated from a whole. The eluded to the idea that destructive alien hands may be that half of the brain retaliating against the fact that it has no control over the speech part of the body and isn't being given the freedom to express. As if it's a second person trapped in the same body with you but forced to be silent and expected to go along with whatever the controlling half is doing. Unfortunately the opposite half isn't aware the other have has become "independent" since they can no longer communicate internally so the actions of the other hand are a complete shock and surprise to the half of you that does the talking. it's a scary thought. Imagine the primary part of your mind that you consider to be yourself being the side that is cut off from speech and you become just a passenger of your own body.

The content Scishow psych covers is amazing, and I'm glad a channel like this exists. However, it would be great if the authors/researchers of the original studies were referenced either on screen or in the description for ease conducting a followup literature search and also for crediting the original researchers.

I wonder if it's possible to have alien hand syndrome, but by pure coincidence the hand always agrees with you and so you never notice that you have it?

I was literally JUST reading a chapter of a laterality book about those split brain patients who had difficulty with their hands fighting each other before I took a break and saw this video in my sub box - creepy timing!

Can you imagine, your own hand "touching" you without consent? ... How do I get this surgery?

I had I dream recently where a scary nightmare thing was trying to grab me and I was holding back its hand by the wrist. Then I woke up and realized my right hand was holding back my left arm which was spazzing uncontrollably and grabbing at my face. It only lasted a second or less after I woke up and then I had control of my hand again but it was super weird

3:13 Insert "It was so occupied with whether it could and forgot to consider whether it should."-joke here.

If anyone is confused: The Neurobiological cause for most cases of Alien Hand Syndrome is that the Primary Motor Cortex loses synaptic connections to the Prefrontal Cortex and several other areas of the Brain that are involved in consciousness (And by extensions voluntary movement). Since Neurons are spontaneously active and sort of each have a mind of their own, the loss of commands from conscious areas of the Brain causes the normal inhibition of rogue, spontaneous activity in the PMC and Premotor Cortex to disappear, and the resulting runaway activity can sometimes jolt to the Motor Neurons and actually reach the muscles There is another different variant of this syndrome that involves the Axonal bodies linking the 2 halves of the Brain being cut off entirely (Corpus Callosum), but that's a whole new level of fuckery that scientists haven't figured out yet since that's technically 2 people in one head, but at the same time not exactly

"stranger hand" would be much more fun

That hand slapping you mid comment thing isn't norma.. OW!

what a fascinating problem to have!

I've had this happen to me... It only happened once but my right arm (hand mainly) tried to choke me and hit me when I was in bed. I'm really glad it's a thing, because I thought I was going nuts, but how they describes it (the barrier between could and will breaks down) really was how it behaved. I only got control over it again when I distracted it. I couldn't imagine living with that, though, that was scary.

Stop fighting you two 👐😂

I was going to throw my clothing in the laundry basket but thru them in the toilet.

I feel like that breakdown between "I could do this action" and "I will do this action" is also sort of what happens with my tics/Tourette's syndrome. I wonder if the two conditions have other similarities.

Am i the only one who thinks alien hand is kinda cool sounding

This is also related to the sense of self, or in this case, of selves, with each side of your brain having it's own identity.

See, now in way, this is what I fear when we talk about developing direct interfaces between brain and computer: that whole difference between "I *could* do this" and "I *will* do this" not being understood by the computer. Today I learned there's an outside chance I gotta worry about my own hand doing the same thing. Geez. The more your learn, the more you got to be anxious about. For instance, I *could* post this comment, but.... *damn it, hand!*

One time my arm acted erratically causing me to slap myself in the face. I can't say for sure how much control I could exert over it, because at first I was too surprised to try, and by the time being surprise had sufficiently faded, my arm was already back to normal.

Sounds like the scene from Evil Dead 2

God bless the archive of knowledge SciShow has given us. I heard this term for the first time two minutes ago, one search and tada 5 year old video about it from a trusted source 🙌

I feel like giving your hand a fidget cube would help a lot

So Ash cut off his hand for nothing???

You don't know the POWER of the Shark Side! I MUST obey my hand!

This is one of those things where you think "no, that can't be real." but it is a real thing Also the metal image of your hands dunking it out is amazing.

The closest I ever got to this was when I was once at a friend's house, sitting on the floor in a small group of us. One of the others accidentally knocked a glass over. Before I'd even thought about it, my hand had grabbed the glass to stop it from spilling the water everywhere. I was as surprised about having done it as my friends were having seen me do it! It was very strange. But I feel for those people who have genuine alien hand syndrome, which causes problems instead of solving them.

Open theory question: could the observed effects of AHS be very similar in nature to the recent computer bugs that were discovered? For instance, to continue with the coffee cup analogy: you see a coffee cup and your brain automatically queues up the “pick item up” subroutine and waits for the front of the brain to give the go ahead to execute. In normal circumstances, the brain doesn’t always give the go ahead and the information is discarded. Could the damage for some types of AHS cause false “proceed” signals to be sent?

I have alien hand syndrome a few times a week in my bedroom with the door locked ✋

This happened to my uncle before he died before a second stroke. It seems funny from a third perspective view, but in fact it's sad because it's usually a pointer to a more invasive health problem coming - 2nd stroke which patients usually do not recover from. It starts off with small things like alien hand syndrome, then basically a lot of your brain ends up damaged. I used to make jokes when it happened to my uncle, but never realised at the time it was a warning of a impending greater problem.

Once after a bout of what seemed to be the common cold (sore throat, stuffy nose, headache, low grade fever, tiredness, etc), I woke up on the couch after falling asleep. Normal right? But the weird part is that when I tried to remove the blanket to go to my real couch, I just couldn't grab the blanket. I could move my fingers, but just not close them with any force at all. Maybe after effects of sleep paralysis? Or maybe it was a dream my mind mistook for reality. I was tired, sick, and confused after all. I still don't know, but I'm doing fine now.

I don't have alien hand syndrome but I do have alien throat syndrome whenever I swallow a pill

One of the symptoms is saying "mischievious" instead of "mischievous".

The best way to deal with two fighting hands is to place an amiibo in between them to simulate the Smash Bros. Master Hand and Crazy Hand battle.

Her hand had eyes! They winked!

My brother-in-law's mother had this issue with her left hand, after a stroke. She could be just relaxing in the kitchen chair, he'd walk by her & her hand/arm would whip out and weasel tap him. Poor guy, I can't help but chuckle about it. Thinking about him telling me about her hand. 😆

I'm just taking a break from studying psychobiology (exam in 5 hours, studied for 2). While I was studying, I was about to put on some music on Spotify and an ad popped out. It featured a pretty girl and I was looking at her when my right hand clicked outside the ad to close it before I realised. This is not the first time something like this happens, by the way. I blamed my stupid left hemisphere for not letting me have a break and start laughing and cursing at him. Now I'm kind of worried. He's watching. Break over.

Imagine an alien hand subscribing to this channel.

Human and animal brains are different like a spectrum of colors. The animals have a small range and humans have a large range, so when there are small changes and problems with the human brain it is a lot more noticeable and strange because human behavior is so open.

This brings a whole new meaning to "why are you hitting yourself"

I have this problem... but with my whole body

*Stares at hands, confused* Aliens

Me: playing with my dog. My hand: drags me across the room

My husband has this following a stroke. His hand drives him crazy grabbing things, not letting go.

I think I have it because randomly I'll throw a pencil across the floor and I didn't mean to do it but it just happens

*my hand slaps and grasps me anyways*

0:35 She read my mind right there. Anyone else?

Fab writing and hosting--go Emma and Brit!

I sometimes punch myself in the face when I'm in between sleep and consciousness. I also throw things like bowls of cereal and cigarettes and I can't control it. It's really horrible.

I keep a bottle of water in my left hand to calm it down. I have been punched, choked and scratched by left hand

Yeah yeah, Alien Hand Syndrome very interesting stuff, but what I really want to know is where did you get that shirt?

Was immediately thinking of Sea Rabbit when I saw the title.

That was someone’s topic for the Tropicana speech in my 6th grade class. (It was cool) 🙂

I would name mine Bobby, I will give Bobby some of my fidget toys to play with and maybe some stylish bracelets😂

If I get this I'll name my hand Migi

I saw the eyes ! ;)

This is just one of those diseases that makes you scratch your head. It took me 3 years to come up with that joke.

If I had an alien hand, I'd name it "Thing."

so basically your hand acts like an octopuses arm reacting to what it could do as what it will do.

Strangest experience is when i woken up with my leg crossing up as if i were lounging in a chair.. now i have great dream recollection so that's isn't the case. Twice! First One after having a quick nap, second deep sleep.. strange.. my only habit with that pose is when I'm using my laptop on my bed it's rare occurrence too

Oh, I get this sometimes. Tho it's far more subtle, like playing quietly w something and only after a while do I notice, or if my cat attacks it ^^;

- oh you groped me!! im suing you - you can't, I have alien hand syndrome

Today my hand started moving on its own, mostly just moving back and forth in a flicking motion. It has been doing this off and on all day. My hand has been getting very tired. I have also been a little sweaty today. After learning more about it, this does not exactly sound like Alien Hand Syndrome. What is happening?

So.. Ultra instinct? From the way it was described as "it breaks down the barrier between, I could do this and I will do this" just imagining doing something makes your hand do it without conscious thought.

Is it possible that one could develop similar symptoms in case he or she suffers from chronic anxiety? Excess of cortisol degenerates the frontal lobe. Should a patient take an anticonvulsant?

It got into my hand and it went bad, so I lopped it off at the wrist!

"Hand....im breaking up with you..." *Chops hand off*

Impulsive groping seems like it would be quite the problem...

this is scary and now i wonder why in particular is this scary.

*QUESTION:* What if there were never organisms on earth that produce oxygen. 1. How would the planet and flora and fauna look today? 2. Would fire be possible?

There was an Ad i couldn't skip, so I had to restart the video three times I thought the intro was an ad

You are new. Nice job!

A lot of times I'll be holding something and my hand will drop it all at once. not like getting tired, but more like a spasm. is that related?

Anyone else just get thrown back in time to that one episode of House?

If I had Alien hand Syndrome. my hand would be tieing a noose

Thanks for giving me an excuse for dropping my computer

This must be why I keep clicking on other videos when I have to go to sleep.

Applause for the shirt.

Once in high school my hand suddenly yanked the doorknob to my science classroom in the opposite direction I'd intended to turn it. Haven't had anything like that happen since.

Alien Hand Syndrome is just DID not fully developed.

YOU HEAR THAT HAND!? IM GOING TO MAKE DOCTORS AMPUTATE YOU IF YOU GO ROGUE.

IT'S THE OTHER SIDE OF YOUR BRAIN FIGHTING BACK.

I had a stroke and my hand gets on my nerves I always put a bottle of water in it to keep it busy.

I"ve The Right Alien Hand Syndrome Thank you for your help.

We cannot allow a mine shaft gap!

The corrupted version of ultra instinct

"Speaking a language they are not fluent in" - I've always had this trouble, that I find it very difficult to speak languages I am not fluent in. I figured it is normal.I guess... not.

I guess ill just slap my hand if it moves on its own.

Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!