Split-Brain research

• What connects the eyes to the LH?

  The visual areas
• How do the visual areas aid depth perception?

  By comparing perspectives from each eye
• What helps locate the source of sounds?

  The disparity from two auditory inputs
• What is a 'split-brain' operation?

  Severing connections between RH and LH
• Why is a split-brain operation performed?

  To reduce epilepsy
• What happens during an epileptic seizure?

  The brain experiences excessive electrical activity
• What does split-brain research study?

  How hemispheres function without communication
• Who devised a system to study split-brain patients?

  Roger Sperry
• What was the procedure in Sperry's research?

  Studying eleven split-brain patients with visual stimuli
• What happens when an image is projected to a participant's RVF?

  It is processed by the LH
• What is the result of presenting an image to the LVF in split-brain patients?

  They report seeing 'nothing there'
• Why can't split-brain patients convey information from the RH to the LH?

  The corpus callosum is severed
• What can participants do with objects projected to the LVF?

  Select a matching object using their left hand
• What emotional reaction occurs when a pinup picture is shown to the LVF?

  Participants may giggle
• What do the findings of Sperry's research suggest about brain lateralization?

  The LH is verbal and the RH is emotional
• What are the key findings of Sperry's split-brain research?

  • LH processes verbal information
  • RH processes non-verbal and emotional information
  • Patients cannot verbally describe objects in LVF
  • Patients can select matching objects with left hand