Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/06/04/brains-of-people-with-extra-fi.html
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1 in 500?!?! How have never met anyone with an extra finger? Maybe extra toes are more common?
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They are almost always removed at birth.
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The extra digits are usually little flippy bits off the pinky. Central polydacty, like the one in the video, is much rarer.
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as guitarist i can’t even begin to think what could be done with a Central polydacty extra finger.
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I remember from my childhood that a friend of my father had a small extra thumb hugging his normal thumb. I don’t think it was at all functional.
Well this post gets 3 thumbs up from me!
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When I was considering entering a Computation and Neural Systems program (decades ago) I was told about a monkey experiment in which they glue two monkey fingers together. The part of the brain that has five visibly separate regions for the five fingers, rewires to have four. Later they unglue the fingers. The part of the brain re-rewires to again have five.
See also: how London cabbies’ brains change in acquisition of The Knowledge.
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And then there was the great Django Reinhardt, damaged, missing fingers an all…!
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Came looking for GITS reference…
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