Localisation of functio

Created by

Sam Tennant

Cards (10)

Split brain surgery gives opportunity for research
Severe cases of epilepsy only treatment is removal of corpus collosum
Sperry - effect of split brain surgery - Method
Combination of case studies and experiments
11Ps undergone split brain surgery
Control group used
One condition Ps covered one eye and looked at fixed point on screen
Pictures placed on right or left
High speed
Sperry - effect of split brain surgery - Findings
If picture was in Right visual field all Ps could say or write what it was
If on left Ps couldn't say or write
Ps were able to select corresponding object with left hand representing their left eye
Ps didn't know why object was selected
Sperry - effect of split brain surgery - Conclusion
Different areas of the brain specialise in different functions
Left hemispheres can convert sight into spoken and written language
Info entering right hemisphere can cross over to be processed in the left
Sperry - effect of split brain surgery - Evaluation
Qualitative and quantitative data
Increased validity and reliability of study
Only 11 Ps not generalisable
Patients also on medication which may affect their brains
Lack ecological validity --> difficult to generalise
Motor cortex = Control voluntary movement
Broca's area = Responsible for the production of speech
Auditory cortex = Processes information from ears
Wernicke's area = understanding of language
Visual cortex = Process eye info
Somatosensory = Info for touch, pain and temperature
Brain is divided into 2 hemispheres
Two hemispheres connected by corpus callosum
Different function are dominant in each hemisphere
Broca's and Wernicke's area only found in left hemisphere so handle language function
Left hemisphere generally logic, analysis and problem solving
Right hemisphere is concerned with spatial comprehension, emotion, face recognition
Hemispheric lateralisation of function
Two hemispheres communicate via corpus callosum