split brain research

• Cutting the connection between left and right hemispheres

  Could affect functioning
• The brain is contralateral, meaning the left side of the brain senses and moves the right side of the body, and the right side of the brain senses and moves the left side of the body
• Visual information

  Left side of the brain deals with visual information from the right side of the visual field, right side of the brain deals with visual information from the left side of the visual field
• Language centres


  Located only in the left side of the brain
• Corpus callosum


  Thick bundle of nerve fibres allowing communication between the left and right hemispheres
• Cutting the corpus callosum

  1. Stops communication between hemispheres

  2. Reduces electrical seizures in severe epilepsy patients
• Patients who had their corpus callosum cut reported few side effects aside from a strange sense of being two people in one body
• Split-brain research by Sperry


  • Participants shown words/images to one visual field only
  • Participants could only respond with the hemisphere that received the information
• Split-brain patients could say the word shown to the right visual field (left hemisphere) but could not say the word shown to the left visual field (right hemisphere)
• Split-brain patients could draw an object shown to the right visual field (left hemisphere) using their left hand
• Split-brain patients could recognize faces shown to the right hemisphere better than faces shown to the left hemisphere
• Sperry's research suggests we are not a single unified self, but a collection of separate intelligent processes working together