Sperry and Casey

• Key theme - Regions of the brain -> There is localisation of function which different areas specialising in different abilities.
• What do we learn about this theme from the classic study? - We learn that the brain has laterlisation of function. The two hemispheres, left and right, have areas they specialise in e.g. language in the left and spatial awareness in the right. We learn that in those with severed corpus callosum's both hemispheres continue to function independently.
• What knowledge stays the same with the contemporary study? - We further confirm that regions of the brain function independently. High delayers in Casey are using the right inferior frontal gyrus while low delayers are using the ventral striatum in impulse control as confirmed by experiment 2.
• What do we learn that is new from the contemporary study? - We learn that, unlike Sperry, people do not all use their brains in the same way. Some, high delayers, use the right inferior frontal gyrus in impulse control and others, low delayers, use the ventral striatum and that this is true over time as the participants were repeatedly measured as high or low delayers at 4, and in their 20s, 30s and now 40s.