lateralisation and split brain research

Question 1

what is meant by the term lateralisation

Answer 1

refers to the idea that some mental processes in the brain are mainly specialised to either the left or the right hemisphere

Question 2

what is meant by split brain research

Answer 2

research that studies individuals who have been subjected to surgical separation of the corpus collosum to sperate the two hemispheres

Question 3

what is the left hemisphere primarily responsible for

Answer 3

1) language

2) speech

Question 4

what is the right hemisphere primarily responsible for

Answer 4

1) visual tasks

2) motor tasks

Question 5

what is the corpus collosum

Answer 5

A bundle or nervous fibres which connects the two hemispheres, thus allowing information received in one hemisphere to be sent to the other.
This allows us to talk about things that are experience in the right hemisphere

Question 6

How was lateralisation studied using split brain research

Answer 6

• Via the use of split brain patients
• Patients who’s corpus collosum had to be severed in order to treat severe epilepsy. It aims to prevent electrical activity from seizures crossing from one side of the brain to the other creating more damage

Question 7

outline the method of studying split brain patients

Answer 7

1) pps would fixate on a dot in the centre of a screen whilst info was shown in either the left or right visual field
2) they would be asked to make their response with their left hand (right hemisphere), right hand (left hemisphere) or verbally ( left hemisphere)
3) information from the left visual fields is processed by right hemisphere which has no language centre, therefore cant respond verbally
4) information from right visual field is processed by left hemisphere which has a language centre does not receive info about seeing a photo of the cat so they cant see it.

Question 8

evaluate split brain research

Answer 8

1) limited sample size due to rarity of the population= low ecological validity
2) language may not be restricted to left hemisphere = JW case study

Question 9

evaluate lateralisation

Answer 9

1) lateralisation changes with age- lateralisation patterns in young pps change to bilateral patterns= extra processing resources compensate for age related decline
2) immune system functioning= superior right hemispheric skills are more likely to be left handed as suffer higher rates of allergies and immune system problems