Split brain research & Lateralisation of function Flashcards
what are the two halves of the brain?
The two halves of the brain (left and right)are functionally different and certain processes or behaviours are controlled by one hemisphere rather than the other(connected by the corpus callosum).
What is the corpus callosum?
The corpus callosum is a bundle of nerve fibres which enable messages to enter the right hemisphere to be conveyed to the left hemisphere and visa versa.
What does the right side of the brain control?
The right side of the brain processes info from the left half of the body.(example. Visual info from the left eye)
What does the left side of the brain control?
The left side of the brain processes info from the right half of the body( example: Visual info from the right eye.)
Name one thing that is usually processed by the left Hemisphere?
Language
One thing your right Hemisphere usually processes?
face recognition , emotion ,creativity.
Who are split brain patients?
A unique group of patients who had a commissurotomy where the corpus callosum is severed so that the two hemispheres are separated and don’t communicate with each other.
(This was done to control frequent and severe epileptic fits.)
Why are split brain patients important for researches?
It gives them an opportunity to research and study different roles of the two hemispheres.
What is the key study on Sperry 1968?
-1 studied 11 split brain patients and compared them to patients with no hemisphere separation.
-2 PROCEDURE: Sperry devised a procedure where a word or picture is projected into the left or right visual field.
-3 This is then dealt with by the opposite hemisphere of the brain and the info isnt shared between the two hemispheres.
-4 Tactical tasks were carried out with the participants hands underneath a screen so they couldn’t see what they were doing.(They had to use ‘feel’ only.
5 lastly , visual tasks involved participants looking at a fixed point screen where images would be displayed on the left or right side for 1/10th of a second.
What was the equipment called by perry?
Tachioscope
What is one strength of the split-brain research?
One strength of spilt-brain research is the contribution it makes to our understanding of brain functioning is sizable.
-Sperry’s research has shown the left hemisphere is more geared to analytic and verbal tasks whilst the right is more adept at spatial tasks and music
.Therefore ,research suggest that the left hemisphere is the analyse while the right is the synthesiser-A key contribution to our understanding of brain processes.
What is a weakness of the spilt-brain research?
One weakness of spilt-brain research is a restricted sample in research lowers population validity. In Sperry’s research .there were only 11 participant all of which had a history of epileptic seizures which may have caused unique changes in their brain. Therefore , there are issues when attempting to generalise the finding to the whole population as an unusual sample is used.
What is the conclusion of brain spilt research?
That it shows that different areas of the brain specialise in different functions.
-The two hemispheres show two separate streams on consciousness,
