sperry

Question 1

research methods

Answer 1

• participants were tested under strictly controlled conditions
• a strength of this is that without the controls of using the screen to hide their hands from view, flashing images only briefly etc the functions of the 2 hemispheres would not have been revealed
• quasi experiment as the IV of having split brain surgery or not was not manipulated by the experimenter

Question 2

data

Answer 2

• collected qualitative data: describing what the split-brain patients could and couldnt do
• this means that it can show a pattern of difficulties that enabled sperry to map brain lateraisation
• however it doesnt show how many of the split brain patients had difficulties with each of the tasks to give a clear and scientific analysis of the findings

Question 3

ethics that were upheld

Answer 3

• informed consent
• no deception

Question 4

why may sperrys research be unethical

Answer 4

• protection from harm: being unable to explain why or what they have seen may distress them
• being shown a nude photo may embarass them

Question 5

validity

Answer 5

• low ecological validity: flashing images with one eye covered unlikely to happen in real life.
• 11 small sample – difficult to generalise to wider population.

Question 6

reliability

Answer 6

• high internal reliability: the procedure is standardised and can be replicable
• low external reliability: 11 participants is a small sample to establish a consistent effect

Question 7

ethnocentricism

Answer 7

-not ethnocentric: it was investigating biological behaviour which is similar in every culture
- ethnocentric: sperry believes that our culture and environment influences how our brain develops
- this means that people not raised in western environments might show differences in their brain lateristion

Question 8

psychology as a science

Answer 8

• sperry carried out controlled lab experiments which fulfils the scientific criteria of theory
• it is falsifiable what sperry is saying about the abilities of split brain pateints by replicating his story with a fresh sample of such patients

Question 9

usefulness

Answer 9

• sperrys work is useful as it shows the importance of the corpus callosum as a pathway for internal communication between the 2 sides of the brain

Question 10

determinism

free will/determinism debate

Answer 10

• suggests a position of biological determinism as undergoing a commissurotomy will mean that split brain pateints are for example no longer able to name objects that they touch with their left hands out of sight
• their inabiity to do this is determined by physiological factors

Question 11

reductionist

reductionist/holism debate

Answer 11

Very reductionist study as Sperry found that those with a severed corpus callossum operated with two different hemispheres

Question 12

how does sperrys study link to the biological area

Answer 12

• investigating regions of the brain and laterisation of brain function
• it demonstrated the importance of the corpus callosum as a communication pathway between the left and right hemispheres and provided evidence of the different functions each hemispheres performs

Question 13

how does sperrys study link to the key theme

Answer 13

• shows the function of the corpus callosum and the importance of it as a communication pathway between the 2 hemispheres
• showed that the hemisoheres perform seperate functions
• The corpus callosum helps different regions of the brain to communicate and improve our perception of the world but each hemisphere can function to produce its own perception and memories.