Split brain research Flashcards
A01 - Split brain research study
Sperry (1968): Conducted a quasi experiment that compared 11 patients that had undergone corpus callostomy and used equipment to project images towards the person as they would fixate at a spot in the centre of the screen
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When split-brain patients were shown an image to their right visual field, they were able to describe in words what they saw. However, when they were shown the same image to their left visual field, they were not able to describe what they saw. This is likely because visual information from the left side is processed in the right hemisphere and language processing primarily occurs in the left hemisphere. So, the visual data in the right hemisphere could not be shared to the language processing areas in the left hemisphere in order for the split-brain patient to describe what they saw.
A03- Split brain research strengths
Evidence supporting hemispheric lateralisation: Sperry’s experiments demonstrate that brain functions are lateralised. For example, if images processed in the right hemisphere can’t be spoken of, this suggests that the image processing and language processing do indeed happen in different hemispheres.
Limitation of split brain research AO3
Overly simplified: Sperry’s research often leads to the exaggeration and oversimplification of the different functions of the left and right hemispheres. In reality, functions associated with one hemisphere (e.g. the left) can be carried out or shared by the other hemisphere when necessary, For example, Gazzinga in 1988 claims that previous discoveries about split brain research have been disconfirmed by more recent studies such as Turk et al who discovered a patient which had damage to their left hemisphere who can still speak in right hemisphere and has the ability to speak about images presented to either his right or the left side of the brain, challenges the idea that the right brain is unable to speak even the most rudimentary language
