Hemispheric Laterlisation And Split Brain Flashcards
What is hemispheric lateralisation
It’s the idea that two halves of the brains are functionally different and each hemispheres has functional specialisations
What does the left hemisphere focus on
Language, controls right side of the body and receives info from the right visual field
What is the right hemisphere responsible for
Visual-motor tasks, controls left side of the body and receives info from the left visual field
What are the 2 hemispheres connected with
Corpus callosum
What is the role of the corpus callosum
Enables communication between the 2 hemispheres
What is the surgery to divide the 2 hemispheres by severing the corpus callosum
Commissurotomy
When is a commissurotomy done
When the patient has epilepsy
What is the key study for hemispheric lateralisation
Split brain research
Who was split brain research conducted by
Sperry and Gazzaniga
What was the aim of split brain research
to examine the extent to which the two hemispheres are specialised for certain functions
What was the background of the participants of the split brain reaserch
They were patients who had already undergone a commissurotomy
What type of experiment is the split brain research and how
Quasi because all the patients had already their commissurotomy surgery
How many ptts were there in the split brain research and what does this mean
Small study, similar to case studies, less representation and lack of generalisability
What were the 3 tests for split brain rsearch
drawing, tactile test, describe what you see
what was the result when the picture was presented to the left visual field
could not describe and may not even see
what was the result when the picture was presented to the right visual field
they could describe what they saw and this shows superiority of the left hem in terms of language production
what was the results when the object was placed in the left hand
couldnt describe what they felt however they coudl identify the object from a series of alternate objects
what was the results when the object was placed in the left hand
could describe what they felt however they could identify the object from a series of alternate objects
what was the results when the picture was presented to the left visual field
left hand would consistently draw clearer abd better pictires than the right hand which shows that the right hem is superior for motor tasks
what was the results when the picture was presented to the right visual field
picture drawn would never be as clear as the one drawn by the left which shows how the right hem dominates the left for motor tasks
