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A-level Psychology (BP) > Split brain research evalation > Flashcards

Flashcards in Split brain research evalation Deck (7)
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1
Q

What are the strengths of the methodology?

A

They use highly specialised and standardised procedures
The method of presenting visual info to oe hemispheric field was ingenious at the time
One eye was blindfolded, an image popped up but only briefly so the split brain patients wouldn’t have time to move their eye across the image and share with both sides of the visual field and therefore the brain

2
Q

Who demonstrated lateralised brain functions?

A

Main conclusions = the left hemisphere is more geared towards analytics whilst the right side is better at performing spatial tasks and music

3
Q

What else did Sperry find out about the right hemisphere?

A

The right hemisphere can only produce rudimentary words and phrases but also contributes emotional and holistic content to language
Research suggests that the left hemisphere is the analyser while the right side is the synthesiser

4
Q

What are the issues with generalisation?

A

Many researchers have urged caution in their wide spread acceptance of split brain as patients constitute such an unusual sample of people - only 11 people too part in basic procedure and most have history of epilepsy. Suggested that this could have causes changes in the brain that would have influenced the findings
Some patients experienced more disconnection of the two hemispheres due to the surgery than others
The control group also may not have been appropriate

5
Q

How may the differences in function be overstated?

A

Much psychological literature over emphasises and simplifies the functional distinction between the left and right hemispheres
Although the verbal and non verbal labels are often useful when distinguishing it I far more complex than that the two hemispheres constantly communicate when doing every day tasks as there are many tasks that both can effectively do

6
Q

Who was Kim Peek?

A

Inspiration behind the film rain man - the story of high functioning autism. However his exceptional abilities were not attributable to autism

7
Q

How was Kim Peek so exceptional?

A

He was born with severe brain damage including a total absence of the closest colossal so he had natural split brain.
Although socially awkward and had a low IQ of 87 his powers of memory were amazing - he had word for word recall of over 12000 books and could read pages n ten seconds
He would use his split brain to simultaneously read one page with his right hemisphere and one with his left