the experiment

• Sperry and Gazzaniga (1967) were the first to investigate hemispheric lateralisation with the use of split- brain patients
• background: split- brain patients are individuals who have undergone a surgical procedure where the corpus callosum, which connects the two hemispheres, is cut. This procedure, which separates the two hemispheres was used as a treatment for severe epilepsy
• aim: to examine the extent to which the two hemispheres are specialised for certain functions
• methods: an image/ word is projected to the patient's left visual field (which is processed by the right hemisphere) or the right visual field (which is processed by the left hemisphere)
• when information is presented to one hemisphere in a split- brain patient, the information is not transferred to the other hemisphere (as the Corpus Callosum is cut)