split brain research

• the two brain hemispheres are connected by a bundle of nerve fibres called the corpus callosum
• sperry- highly controlled procedure, allowing researchers to isolate hemispheric functions by presenting stimuli to only one visual field. However, a limitation is that the sample sizes are often small and unrepresentative, as split-brain research is rare. This reduces the generalisability of findings to the wider population
• sperry research in the 1960s- investigated the functional differences between the two hemispheres of the brain by studying individuals who had undergone a surgical procedure to sever the corpus callosum, the main communication pathway between them.
• Sperry - a series of studies conducted on people who had undertaken a commissurotomy, a procedure in which the corpus callosum are severed in order to control severe epileptic seizures,
• Findings of sperry and conclusion- found that participants were able to say the words that appeared to the right of the screen (and therefore their left hemisphere) but not the left of the screen (right hemisphere), this suggested that language must exist solely in the left hemisphere,
• Sample- 11 split brain patients, severed corpus callosum surgery to treat epilepsy,
• Sperry had very controlled research- shows cause and effect, performance on the tasks can be compared with pp who’s corpus callosum is intact