Split Brain Research Flashcards
What have split brain patients had surgery to treat?
Epilepsy
What do they cut in split brain surgery?
The area that connects the two hemispheres of the brain (corpus callosum)
What is the area that connects the two hemispheres of the brain called?
Corpus callosum
What are the side effects of split brain surgery?
The two hemispheres become functionally separate, acting as two separate independent brains
What was the aim of split brain research?
To investigate the effect of severing the connection between the two hemispheres of the brain (corpuscles callosum) on functioning
What was the method is split brain research?
Natural experiment
What was the naturally occurring IV in split brain research?
The cutting of the corpus callosum
Who were the participants?
11 individuals who had their corpus callosum severed due to surgery
Where did participants sit in front of in split brain research and what did they have to do?
Sit in front of a screen while fixating their gaze on a spot in the middle of a screen
What visual field was the spot on the screen at?
Neutral visual field
Participants were presented with visual information where for how long?
Either their right visual field or left visual field for 1/10th of a second
Why were the participants only presented with the visual information for 1/10th of a second?
So there is not enough time for the other visual field to switch focus to the visual image
Objects seen in the right visual field can be named verbally and in writing as the image would be processed by…
The language centres in the left side of the brain
What are the language centres in the left side of the brain called?
Broca’s and Wernicke’s area
If objects are only seen in the left visual field they can only be identified trough pointing but cannot be named by the participant because…
There is no language centres in the right hemisphere
