I think (note: I am not a cutting-edge theoretical physicist) that the brain would work fine against both of these effects.

First, I'm not sure it's possible for the brain to be half-way across an event horizon. When an in-falling object nears the event horizon, the horizon "dimples" in response to the changing gravitational field caused by the object's mass.

Second, once inside the horizon, it is true that messages cannot be sent opposite the direction of the singularity. However, your entire brain is moving toward the singularity, and therefore neural communication does not require messages to be sent away from the singularity.

>Things past the event horizon should be able to travel in the direction of it, though they will always turn back before actually crossing it.

According to the best of my understanding, if you're inside the event horizon, every direction you look leads to singularity. There are no paths away from the singularity.