lateralisation of function

• what is lateralisation of function?

  Lateralisation is the fact that the two halves of the brain are functionally different and that each hemisphere has functional specialisations, e.g. the left is dominant for language, and the right excels at visual motor tasks.
• how are the hemispheres collected?

  The two hemispheres are connected, Info received by one of the hemispheres can be transmitted to the other through connecting nerve fibres called the corpus callosum 
• why is the corpus callosum cut?

  Corpus callosum cut to stop violent electrical activities that accompanies epileptic seizures crossing from one hemisphere to the other 
• what is split brain research

  Research on individuals who have been subject to the surgical separation of the two hemispheres of the brain by severing the  callosum 
• sperry and gazzaniga's research


  • Because the corpus is cut the info presented can only be processed by the hemisphere that receives it 
  • Patients would fixate of a dot in the centre whilst info was presented to either left or right visual field and asked to make responses with left hand right hand or verbally
• what did they find in their research?

  • What the left and the right hemispheres are responsible for 
  • Eg. left controls speech because if it was presented to the left visual field they wouldn’t be able to verbalise what they saw
• • 3 types of test
  • In the describe what you see task, a picture was presented to either the left or right visual field and the participant had to simply describe what they saw.
  • In the tactile test, an object was placed in the patient’s left or right hand and they had to either describe what they felt, or select a similar object from a series of alternate objects.

  Finally, in the drawing task, participants were presented with a picture in either their left or right visual field, and they had to simply draw what they saw.