Hemispheric lateralisation

Question 1

What are the types of evidence for localisation?

Answer 1

Brain scans, case studies, neurosurgery and post-mortem

Question 2

What is hemispheric lateralisation?

Answer 2

The idea that the 2 halves of the brain are functionally different

Question 3

What is the result of hemispheric lateralisation?

Answer 3

Certain mental processes are mainly controlled by one hemisphere rather than the other - e.g. language is localised and lateralised

Question 4

What is split brain research?

Answer 4

Series of studies involving people with severe epilepsy where the 2 halves of the brain are split

Question 5

What is evidence for split brain research?

Answer 5

Michael Gazzaniga who showed that split-brain particpants actually perform better than connected controls - e.g faster at identifying the odd one out of similar objects

Question 6

Is Michael Gazzaniga’s research valid?

Answer 6

The control group didn’t have epilepsy, so this is a confounding variable and the difference may be due to epilepsy

Question 7

Is Michael Gazzaniga’s research ethical?

Answer 7

Particpants were fully briefed so no deliberate harm and full informed consent but trauma of operation could mean they didn’t fully understand

Question 8

What was the procedure of Sperry’s experiment?

Answer 8

11 people who had split brain operations were studied and an image was projected in participants RVF (processed in left hemisphere) and same or different image projected in LVF (processed by right hemisphere)

Question 9

What were the findings of Sperry’s research?

Answer 9

Different answers were said for each side of the brain, but things seen processed by the right half could only be drawn, as right half of brain is ‘mute’