31 Brain & Behavior VIII Flashcards
What brain hemispheres are in charge of NATURAL vs MAN-MADE objects?
How was this understood?
fMRI recorded naming ANIMALS vs TOOLS
Animals = RHS
Tools = LHS
Hypothesis for WHY natural vs man-made objects are controlled by the RHS/ LHS respectively?
HANDEDNESS
Contralateral control means LEFT BRAIN is in charge of RIGHT HAND while making tools
What is Split-Brain surgery used as a Tx for?
Intractable Multifocal EPILEPSY
What does Intractable mean?
Not well controlled using treatments
WHY is split-brain surgery used for intractable multifocal EPILEPSY?
Separates L/R hemispheres by transecting the CORPUS CALLOSUM
= prevents seizures SPREADING through the brain
What is the corpus callosum
Largest cerebral COMMISSURE
What TYPE of TISSUE is the corpus callosum made of
200 million MYELINATED AXONS
What is Commissurotomy
Sectioning of ALL forebrain commissures
Done in 1960s for epilepsy
How was epilepsy treated from the 1970s onwards?
Callostomy
- ONLY corpus callosum sectioned
Callostomy is usually done in TWO stages.
Name these
- ANTERIOR, and if this doesn’t work…
2. POSTERIOR
Is Split-Brain surgery an EFFECTIVE cure for epilepsy?
YES, successful in controlling epilepsy
NOW, how would we treat epilepsy?
Drugs and psychological Tx
Are split-brain patients NORMAL?
SEEM quite normal
What is a RARE symptom of Split Brains?
“Alien Hand”
= RIGHT hand takes a ‘life of its own’
Most experiments on SPLIT-BRAIN patients are done using what SENSE?
Why?
VISUAL experiments (visual field split CLEANLY down vertical meridian)
