Biological area: Sperry

Question 1

The language abilities of the left hemisphere were first identified by who and when?

Answer 1

19th Century by Broca and Wernicke

Question 2

What was Wernicke’s area responsible for?

Answer 2

Speech comprehension

Question 3

What was Broca’s area responsible for?

Answer 3

Speech production

Question 4

What was the aim of Sperry’s study?

Answer 4

To investigate the effects of the disconnection between the hemispheres and show the different functions of the hemispheres

Question 5

What was Sperry’s aim in terms of the lateralisation of brain function?

Answer 5

To map lateralisation of brain function and show that information in one side of the brain was not accessible to the other side

Question 6

What was Sperry’s research method?

Answer 6

Quasi experiment and self report

Question 7

What evidence is there from the study that the research method was quasi?

Answer 7

The main IV was whether or not the P’s had a split brain which was already existing

Question 8

Describe the sample used in Sperry’s study

Answer 8

11 patients who had commisurotomy as a result of severe epilepsy

Question 9

What are 2 weaknesses of Sperry’s sample?

Answer 9

Small sample size

May not have ‘normal’ brain as they all had severe epilepsy

Question 10

Why did Sperry use the sample that he did?

Answer 10

Because the corpus callosum had been cut so therefore the hemispheres were not able to communicate

Question 11

When objects were presented to the right visual field, what hemisphere of the brain did this information go to?

Answer 11

Left

Question 12

What could the P’s do with information presented to the right visual field?

Answer 12

They could say what they had seen

Question 13

When objects were presented to the left visual field, what hemisphere of the brain did this information go to?

Answer 13

Right

Question 14

What could P’s do with objects presented to the left visual field?

Answer 14

They could draw/pick up what they had seen

Question 15

When visual stimuli were presented simultaneously to different visual fields (e.g. an image of an apple to the left and an image of a key to the right), which hemisphere did the apple and key go to?

Answer 15

Apple would go to the right

Key would go to the left

Question 16

What could the participants do when presented the apple and key to the different visual fields?

Answer 16

They could draw the apple and then could say that they had seen the key

Question 17

What couldn’t the participants do when they were presented the apple and key to the different visual fields?

Answer 17

They couldn’t say that they had seen the apple and were unsure why they drew the apple

Question 18

When simple mathematical problems were presented to the left visual field, which hemisphere did this go to?

Answer 18

Right

Question 19

What could the participants not do when they were presented with maths to the left visual fired?

Answer 19

They couldn’t answer the mathematical problem

Question 20

When a nude pin-up was presented to the left visual field, which hemisphere did this go to?

Answer 20

Right

Question 21

What did the participants do when the nude pin-up was presented to the left visual field?

Answer 21

They blushed

Question 22

What could participants not do when the nude pin-up was presented to the left visual field?

Answer 22

They couldn’t say what they saw

Question 23

When objects were felt with the right hand only, what hemisphere did this information go to?

Answer 23

Left

Question 24

What could participants do when they felt an object with their right hand?

Answer 24

Identify the object by speech and in writing

Question 25

When objects were felt with the left hand only, what hemisphere did this information go to?

Answer 25

Right

Question 26

What could participants do when they felt an object with their left hand?

Answer 26

They could find it with their left hand

Question 27

What could the participants not do when they had felt an object with their left hand?

Answer 27

They couldn’t identify the object and seemed to make wild guesses

Question 28

Which ethical guidelines did Sperry uphold?

Answer 28

Consent, Confidentiality and Deception

Question 29

Why could it be argued that Sperry broke protection from harm?

Answer 29

Because some mild frustration may have been caused from the activities

Question 30

Was the procedure standardised and replicable? (Internal reliability)

Answer 30

Yes - number of controls (e.g. in silence, 1/10 of a second)

Question 31

Was the sample large enough to suggest a consistent effect? (external reliability)

Answer 31

Limited but such patients aren’t easily available

Question 32

Was the research testing the effects of deconnected hemispheres or could there be any other possible reasons for the reported behaviour? (internal validity)

Answer 32

Unlikely that patients deliberately gave the wrong answers however as a result of them having severe epilepsy their hemispheres may be atypical

Question 33

Were the visual true to life?

Answer 33

No

Question 34

Were the tactile tasks true to life?

Answer 34

Yes, possibly similar to trying to finding an object in a bag with only one hand