Hello, I am Roger Sperry. I will be investigating how 'split-brains' (severed corpus callosum) process information, and how the left and right hemispheres work separately without communication between each other.
11 participants with split brains were tested. I flashed words/pictures to each side of the visual field (left/right) and recorded what the patients were able to identify.
Words or pictures shown to the right visual field were easily identified and repeated back by the subjects. However, words seen with the left visual field had trouble being repeated back.
BALL
BALL!
Similarly, objects touched by the right hand (left hemisphere) were easily named, while objects touched with the left hand (right hemisphere) could not be easily named.
BALL!
Therefore, we can conclude that each hemisphere can work well without communicating with the other side. However, they each have their own perception of objects and cannot share information together, making it seem like they have their own 'memories'.
This also supports the idea that each hemisphere plays different roles in functions of the brain. From what we see, the idea that the left hemisphere controls language and speech abilities and that the right hemisphere controls spatial and visual processing is supported by our results.