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Psychology - IN FOCUS Biopsychology > Hemispheric lateralisation and split-brain research > Flashcards

Hemispheric lateralisation and split-brain research Flashcards

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1
Q

What does localisation refer to?

A

The fact that some functions, such as vision and language, are governed by very specific areas in the brain

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2
Q

True/False: The brain is lateralised

A

True

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3
Q

What are the two sides to the brain called?

A

Hemispheres

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4
Q

True/False: There is evidence showing that even in connected brains the two hemispheres process information differently

A

True

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5
Q

What did Fink et al. (1996) use PET scans for?

A

To identify which brain areas were active during a visual processing task

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6
Q

What did Fink et al. (1996) find about participants with connected brains when they were asked to attend to global elements of an image e.g. looking at a picture of a whole forst?

A

Regions of the RH were much more active

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7
Q

What did Fink et al. (1996) find about participants with connected brains were required to focus in on the finer detail of an image (such as individual trees)?

A

Specific areas of the LH tended to dominate

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8
Q

What did Fink et al. (1996)’s findings show about hemispheric lateralisation in the connected brain?

A

At least as far as visual processing, it is a feature of the connected brain as well as the split-brain

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9
Q

The brain being lateralised enables two tasks to be…

A

performed simultaneously with greater efficiency

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10
Q

What did Rogers et al. (2004) show about lateralised chickens?

A

They could find food while watching for predators but ‘normal’ chickens couldn’t

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11
Q

True/False: Neural plasticity means some functions can be taken over by non-specialised areas in the opposite hemisphere

A

True

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12
Q

Why may functions be taken over by non-specialised areas in the opposite hemisphere of the brain?

A

As a result of damage through illness or trauma

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13
Q

True/False: Holland et al. (1996) said that the language function was restricted to the left side of the brain

A

False, it cal literally ‘switch sides’

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14
Q

Give an example of functions in which the localised areas appear in both hemispheres

A

In the case of vision, the visual area is in the left and right occipital lobe

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15
Q

Where is the visual area located?

A

In the left and right occipital lobe, located in the left and right hemisphere respectively

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16
Q

For most people, where are the two main centres for language?

A

Broca’s area - left frontal lobe, Wernicke’s area - left temporal lobe. Left hemisphere

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17
Q

True/False: We can say language is lateralised

A

True

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18
Q

What is meant by saying that language is lateralised?

A

It’s performed by one hemisphere rather than the other

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19
Q

True/False: The RH can only produce rudimentary words and phrases

A

True

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20
Q

What does the RH contribute towards what’s being said?

A

Emotional context

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21
Q

The fact that the RH can only produce rudimentary words and phrases and contributes emotional context to what’s being said has led to the suggestion that…

A

the LH is the analyser whilst the RH is the synthesiser

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22
Q

Why may the suggestion that the LH is the analyser and the RH is the synthesiser be wrong?

A

There may be different functions in the RH and LH

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23
Q

What did Nielsen et al. (2013) analyse?

A

Brain scans from over 1000 people aged 7 to 20

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24
Q

Nielsen et al. (2013) analysed brain scans from how many people of which age?

A

1000 people aged. 7to 20

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25
Q

What did Nielsen et al. (2013) find when analysing the brain scans of 1000 people aged 7 to 20?

A

People use certain hemispheres for certain tasks (evidence for lateralisation) but there was no evidence of a dominant side

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26
Q

True/False: Nielsen et al. (2013) found evidence for a dominant side of the brain

A

False, there was no evidence of a dominant side (e.g. artist’s brain or mathematician’s brain)

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27
Q

What is meant by the vision, motor and somatosensory areas not being lateralised?

A

They appear in both hemispheres

28
Q

What is meant by contralateral wiring in the brain?

A

The brain is cross-wired - the RH controls movement on the left side of the body and vice versa

29
Q

Vision is simple/complex

A

complex

30
Q

True/False: Each eye receives light from the left and right visual fields

A

True

31
Q

The LVF of both eyes is connected to…

A

the RH

32
Q

The RVF of both eyes is connected to…

A

the LH

33
Q

Why is the LVF of both eyes connected to the RH and vice versa?

A

This enables the visual areas to compare the slightly different perspective from each eye and aids depth perception

34
Q

The LVF of both eyes is connected to the RH and vice versa. Why is there a similar arrangement to this for auditory input?

A

The disparity from the two inputs helps us locate the source of sounds

35
Q

What does a split-brain operation involve?

A

Severing the connections between the RH and LH, mainly the corpus callosum

36
Q

The split-brain operation involves severing the connections between the RH and LH, mainly the…

A

corpus callosum

37
Q

Why is the split-brain surgical procedure often carried out?

A

To reduce epilepsy

38
Q

During an epileptic seizure the brain experiences excessive electrical activity which travels from one hemisphere to the other. What can be done to reduce this?

A

The connections can be cut in order to ‘split’ the brain in two halves

39
Q

Sperry devised a system to study what?

A

How two separated hemispheres deal with information

40
Q

Who did Sperry study?

A

11 people who had a split-brain

41
Q

How many people with split brains did Sperry study?

A

11

42
Q

What was the setup of Sperry’s study?

A

A spatial setup in which an image could be projected to a participant’s RVF (processed by the LH) and the same, or different, image could be projected to the LVF (processed by the RH)

43
Q

What would happen if people with ‘normal’ brains were used in Sperry’s study?

A

The corpus callosum would immediately share the information between both hemispheres giving a complete picture of the visual world

44
Q

What happened when presenting an image to one hemisphere of a split-brain participant in Sperry’s study?

A

The information couldn’t be conveyed from that hemisphere to the other. When an image was shown to a participant’s RVF, they could describe what was seen

45
Q

What do Sperry’s observations of split-brain patients show?

A

How certain functions are lateralised in the brain and support the view that the LH is verbal and the RH is ‘silent’ but emotional

46
Q

Why are causal relationships hard to establish in Sperry’s study?

A

An issue is that none of the participants in the control group had epilepsy - this is a major confounding variable

47
Q

Why is the fact that none of the participants in Sperry’s control group had epilepsy a major confounding variable?

A

Differences that were observed may be the result of the epilepsy rather than the split brain

48
Q

True/False: Fink’s research challenges Sperry’s conclusion

A

False, it supports Sperry’s conflusion

49
Q

True/False: There is more recent brain research to support Sperry’s conclusion

A

True, Luck et al. (1989)

50
Q

What did Luck et al. (1989) show about split-brain participants’ performance in certain tasks?

A

They performed better than connected controls on certain tasks, e.g. they were faster at identifying the odd one out in an array of similar objects

51
Q

True/False: Luck et al. (189) found that split-brain patients performed better than connected controls at identifying the odd one out in an array of similar objects

A

True

52
Q

What did Kingstone et al. (1995) say about the normal brain’s LH?

A

In the normal brain. the LH’s better cognitive strategies are ‘watered down’ by the inferior RH

53
Q

Luck et al.’s findings that split-brain participants actually perform better than connected controls on certain tasks supports Sperry’s findings that…

A

the ‘left brain’ and ‘right brain’ are distinct

54
Q

True/False: The split-brain operation was performed for the purpose of research

A

False, it was not

55
Q

In Sperry’s split-brain research, what had to happen before the study could take place?

A

All procedures were explained and their full informed consent was obtained

56
Q

Why may there be questions regarding the ethicality of Sperry’s split-brain research?

A

The trauma of the operation might mean that participants didn’t later fully understand the implications of what they had agreed to

57
Q

True/False: Sperry’s split-brain subjects were subject to repeated testing over a lengthy period

A

True

58
Q

What is the problem with Sperry’s split-brain patients being subject to repeated testing over a lengthy period of time?

A

This may have been stressful for them

59
Q

What did participants in Sperry’s study say when objects were shown to the LVF?

A

There was ‘nothing there’

60
Q

Why did participants in Sperry’s split-brain study say there was ‘nothing there’ when an object was shown to their LVF?

A

In the connected brain, messages from the LVF (RH) are relayed to the language centres in the LH - this is not possible in the split-brain

61
Q

Although participants couldn’t give verbal labels to objects protected to the LVF, what could they do?

A

Select a matching object out of sight using their left hand

62
Q

Although participants couldn’t give verbal labels to objects protected to the LVF, they could select a matching object using which hand?

A

Their left

63
Q

Why could participants use their left hand to point out an object closely associated with the object presented to their LVF, but not their right hand?

A

The RH is linked to the left side of the body

64
Q

Give an example of when the left hand was able to select an object that was most closely associated with an object presented to the LVF in Sperry’s study

A

An ashtray was selected in response to a picture of a cigarette

65
Q

What happened if a pinup picture was shown to the LVF of participants in Sperry’s study?

A

There was an emotional reaction (e.g. a giggle) but participants usually reported seeing nothing or just a flash of light

66
Q

What did participants report seeing after a pinup picture was shown to their LVF in Sperry’s split-brain study?

A

Nothing or just a flash of light

Psychology - IN FOCUS Biopsychology (7 decks)

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