Compared split brain patients to others with no hemisphere separation.
Different activities where tried witht he patients including touch of objects and visual presentation of stimuli to see how the different sides perform on tasks.
Key study - Sperry (1968)
Visual tasks
A word or picture is projected into the left or right visual field and patient will be asked something about that stimuli.
Tactile tasks
Were carried out with ppts hands underneath a screen so the ppts could not see what they were touching.
The had to use ‘feel’ only.
Key study - Sperry (1968)
Independant variable - Cut corpus callosum or uncut corpus callosum.
Key study - Sperry (1968)
Dependant variable - how the ppt behaved.
Key study - Sperry (1968)
Findings:
Left visual field, left hand.
They could select the object because it was seen by the right hemisphere.
They could not speak about the object.
Key study - Sperry (1968)
Findings - recognition by touch:
Left visual field, right hand.
If the left hand picked up the right hands object, it would be rejected.
Key study - Sperry (1968)
Conclusions:
Hemispheres of the brain process information separately.
Hemispheres do have different functions supporting lateralisation.
Two separate streams of consciousness with their own memories and perceptions.
Key study - Sperry (1968)
Findings - Composite words:
If two words were presented simultaneously, one on either side of the visual field.
The patient would say one word but write the other with their left hand.
This is because the left hand is controlled by the right hemisphere, collecting information from the left visual field.