Surgeons Identify—And Save—A Patient’s Chess-Playing Brain Area

image via New Scientist

September 18, 2024, 6:15 PM

• •Surgeons used electrical stimulation mapping to identify a brain area involved in chess play.
• •The patient was able to maintain his chess-playing ability after surgery.
• •The researchers are now preparing a paper about an earlier surgery that used a similar approach to protect computer programming skills.

Surgeons were able to identify and preserve a patient's chess-playing brain area during surgery to remove a brain tumor. The patient, a 45-year-old computer programmer, had been playing chess for 25 years and had an Elo rating of 1,950. The surgery was performed at Bellvitge University Hospital in Spain.

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