Brain Damage

MyNameIsMethos

Would a zombie function perfectly "normally" with the front half of it's brain missing?

Seeing as the frontal lobes govern higher thought; logic, creativity etc., traits that zombies would be mostly lacking in, just how much brain damage could a zombie endure before falling?

Kess73

One would assume that the most important parts of the brain for a zombie would be the cerebellum (motor functions), Brain Stem (Swallowing, startle responses, processing balance functions), Occipital Lobes (vision so that the stem could initiate startle responses based on processing visual info), and Temporal Lobes (hearing, again to allow the stem to process and initiate startle responses).


All of those are to the back, side, or bottom of the brain, so in theory a body that has been reanimated as a traditional zombie should in fact be able to witstand some damage to the front of the brain.

Of course any damage to the front of the brain would quicken decomposition of the brain through the open wound, or potentially cause the link between the areas I mentioned to be damaged.

But it does put the idea out there that of a head shot or blunt force trauma to the head being sure fire ways to kill a zed does not guarantee a stopped zed.

It would mean that a headshot or blow to the head would have to be quite accurate in order to stop the zed, and depending on the weapon, attacking a zed from behind or from the side would become the best kill option.

wavehopper1

Interesting info, Kess73.

I'll spoiler this as it relates to later episodes of AMC's seasion one "The Walking Dead"

There was a scene where a lab guy did a scan of a newly animated corpse and made a big deal that there was activity in only the lower parts of the brain (the stem and the cerebellem?), while the rest of the brain was still dead - hence the non-human-ness.

DakotaYoda

Yeah you're right on target wavehopper. That is what I recall from that episode too. The point of the scan was that only the basest functions of the brain are functioning - not the whole thing.

My guess is that Z's don't rely on "living" senses as we are used to them. Sight and Sound may be used - but I think they operate in a less complex manner than they would in a living being. Smell is an interesting thought, as to how Zombies use it, as is the ever-present idea of a Zombie "life sense" when they can simply "tell" where fresh food is independent of sight/sound/smell.

ScumLord

The general consensus seems to be that zombies don't possess the higher functions of the human brain. That's why they're slow and awkward.

A living human can go on living with large chunks of their brain missing so I'd have to assume zombie could be the same.

Kess73

ScumLord wrote: »

The general consensus seems to be that zombies don't possess the higher functions of the human brain. That's why they're slow and awkward.

A living human can go on living with large chunks of their brain missing so I'd have to assume zombie could be the same.

Just boils down to where the missing chunks are taken from in the brain imho.

ChaseThisLight

If you have to destroy a certain part of the brain though, then an arrow through the head wouldn't kill them, nor would a bullet unless it's a shotgun that rips apart the entire head. You'd have to be absolutely sure the arrow/bullet went in at the right angle to hit the correct area. Imagine the time it would take to kill one of the things if that were the case. :eek:

SmileyPaul

it would be of my understanding that the brain is somewhat connected, what happens when people injure their brain is that the body automatically attempts to find a new path for the signal so it can still reach it's target, aim for the base of the skull and I'm pretty sure they Zed will be boned :P

other parts of the brain will disallow signals to pass and since the body wont have it's natural systems working the brain wont work to find new paths

I hope this is right, Kess seems to know a lot more than me :P

GavRedKing

My course of action would be if I was dealing with a single Z try and knock it down with trauma to the head or limbs and behead it, bury the head or burn it and continue on my travels.

If it was a small group 2-5, maybe fleeing would be best, but as mentioned above, aim for the base of the head/neck or take a leaf out of S.W.A.T. teams and aim for the middle of the face, around the nose and mouth area, but this depends on the calibre of ammo used, distance from subject and accuracy to ensure a stopped Z.

Interesting topic though.

deise go deo

If a Zombie needs its lower brain functions, then would it not have to have a heart rate to get oxygen to the brain to keep these lower brain functions working?

SmileyPaul

there is still a lot of speculation on how the solanum virus actually works, what is known is that there is no pulse in an undeads body the virus (it seems) moulds itself into the brain and the virus itself powers the brain functions.

ScumLord

ChaseThisLight wrote: »

If you have to destroy a certain part of the brain though, then an arrow through the head wouldn't kill them, nor would a bullet unless it's a shotgun that rips apart the entire head. You'd have to be absolutely sure the arrow/bullet went in at the right angle to hit the correct area. Imagine the time it would take to kill one of the things if that were the case. :eek:

Occasions where severe brain damage doesn't lead to death (in the living) are extremely rare, I'd guess it would be similar for zombies. A busted head would mean instant death bar a few freak occurrences when it doesn't.

Base of the brain - top of spine is however a fail-safe, once that area is damaged there's no route around, the machine is truly broken.

ScumLord

SmileyPaul wrote: »

there is still a lot of speculation on how the solanum virus actually works, what is known is that there is no pulse in an undeads body the virus (it seems) moulds itself into the brain and the virus itself powers the brain functions.

I'm guessing it takes over the nervous system, and does it's work through that maybe even more chemically than anything. It would count towards slowness if that system is doing more than it was meant to.

BigDuffman

ChaseThisLight wrote: »

If you have to destroy a certain part of the brain though, then an arrow through the head wouldn't kill them, nor would a bullet unless it's a shotgun that rips apart the entire head. You'd have to be absolutely sure the arrow/bullet went in at the right angle to hit the correct area. Imagine the time it would take to kill one of the things if that were the case. :eek:

Majority of bullet points (not just hollow point, FMJ included) are designed to flatten out or pancake and warp on impact. The exit wound may not be directly in line with entrance. Bullet trajectories vary wildly particularly depending on the angle / curvature of bone etc.

People can get shot in the stomach, riccochet off a hip bone and exit through the shoulder!

If you get shot in the head. The majority of yizzer brayans, will be turned to jelly. Not to mention the damage percussive force and shock wave rippling through your soft bits will do.