Sperry

• What was the aim of the study?

  To record the psychological effects of hemispheric deconnection and to find evidence for lateralisation of function in normal brains
• What was the aim of the study?

  To record the psychological effects of hemispheric deconnection and to find evidence for lateralisation of function in normal brains
• What was the sample?

  11 people who had the split-brain operation who previously had severe epilepsy they all had the procedure at different times reducing consistency so opportunity sampling was used
• What scientific equipment was used?

  Tachistoscope which projects visual stimuli onto a screen for a specified amount of time
• What research method was used?

  A quasi experiment
• What was the independent variable?

  whether the participants had a split-brain surgery or not
• What was the dependent variable?

  Was their performance on visual and tactile tasks
• What was the procedure?

  Each participant studied alone , they had one eye covered and looked at a fixed point in the screen on the Tachistoscope then stimuli was projected to either the left or right visual field images were shown for 0.1 seconds they didn't have time to change their visual feild
• What happened in the one visual field task?


  they were shown a visual stimulus in one visual field for 0.1 seconds then asked to say what they had seen
• What happened in the both visual field task?

  they were shown two different images one in each visual field at the same time
• What happened in the tactile one hand task?

  Each participant was given an object in one hand then asked to either say or write down what was in their hand
• What happened in the tactile both hands task?

  This was the dual processing task - they work with their hands out of sight and given 2 different objects one in each hand then the objects were taken away then asked to find the objects by touch from a pile of items or asked to say what they have just held
• What were the results of the one visual field task?

  Ps shown a picture in the right visual field is processed in their left hemisphere in in charge of language so they can say and draw what they had seen
• What was a result from the both visual field task?

  when Ps asked to draw an image seen they would draw the image from the left visual field but if asked to say what they had seen they would say the image seen in the right visual field
• What result was found from the tactile one hand task?

  If the item was placed in the right hand it could be identified in the left hemisphere and write with the right hand
• What was the result of the dual processing task?

  Ps were able to find the objects by touch but only by the hand where the object was first places. If the hand touched the object that it was not held in it would reject it almost as if the participant had never held the object beofre
• What was the main conclusion found?

  Split brain patients appear to have two independent streams of consciousness each with its own memories , perceptions and impulses effectively , two minds in one body. this supports the argument of lateralisation of function the different areas and hemispheres of the brain specialised on different tasks such as the left side being responsible for language