Split Brain

Question 1

What is the role of the left hemisphere in the brain?

Answer 1

• controls right side of the body
• viewing objects in the right visual field
• major hemisphere
• processes language

Question 2

What is the role of the right hemisphere in the brain?

Answer 2

• controls left side of the body
• viewing objects in the left visual field
• minor hemisphere
• drawing, facial recognition, spatial tasks

Question 3

Sperry’s findings into split-brain

Answer 3

Asked participants questions about visual things
- participants had their corpus callosums cut due to extreme epilepsy

Patients could VERBALLY describe an image in the RVF
Patients COULDN’T verbally describe an image in their LVF

Question 4

Strengths of Sperry’s research into Split Brain

Answer 4

Ethical way of studying split brain
Simple stimuli - high internal validity
Good practical applications into treatments

Question 5

Limitations of Sperry’s research into Split Brain

Answer 5

Unethical to replicate to check reliability
Small sample size (11) - cannot generalise
Surgeries were done by different surgeons and at different times
- 5 years vs 2 weeks may have affected the results