hemispheric lateralisation Flashcards
(13 cards)
what is hemispheric lateralisation?
each hemisphere has a different function
what is the left hemisphere for?
writing, reading, language and reasoning
what is the right hemisphere for?
visual tasks (drawing)
a strength of hemispheric lateralisation (fink) - picture
fink - used PET scan during visual processing task and found that when the whole picture was shown the right hemisphere was active and when details shown then left hemisphere was active
limitation of hemispheric lateralisation (dominant?)
LH for analysing and RH for synthesiser may be wrong as no dominant side of brain found - analyse 1000 brain scans and found no dominant side therefore left brain people and right brain people isn’t true so limits lateralisation (see notes app - think left is dominantoveto language - studied artists UNO English major and found no dominant side )
who conducted research into split brain?
sperry
why was the corpus callosum severed in sperrys research?
to treat epilepsy so the hemispheres can’t communicate
what was sperrys procedure?
- patient WJ
- stimuli flashed to either left or right field of vision
- WJ press button every time this happened and then he was asked what he saw
what were sperrys findings?
- when flashed to right VF (LH) he could say what he saw
- when flashed to left VF (RH) he clicked the button but couldn’t say what he saw
- indicates RH noticed stimuli but hemispheres can’t communicate
strength of split brain research (girlfriend)
- PS was asked ‘who’s your favourite girlfriend?’
- when ‘girlfriend’ flashed to LVF he couldn’t say
- language is laterised to left hemisphere
sperry and gazinga.
limitation of split brain research (sample)
patients aren’t easy to come by and have different degrees of damage
limitation of split brain research (control)
sperrys research compared to control - differences may be due to epilepsy not split brain
limitation of split brain research (artificial)
tasks don’t represent everyday life
