Split Brain The findings and implications of split brain research

Purpose of the Split Brain Procedure Roger Sperry (who won the Nobel prize in 1981) and Michael Gazzaniga are two neuroscientists who studied patients who had surgery to cut the corpus callosum. The intention was to reduce seizures in epileptics. (1960’s) Surgery first performed on animals to study the effects.

View Split Brain Video Clip Questions to Consider… What are some of the immediate effects of the split brain surgery? Does this surgery reveal anything about the dominance or specialization of the hemispheres?

Visual Fields What do you notice about the right and left visual field? What happens to visual information from both fields after it reaches the eye?

Split Brain Research

Post Split Brain Surgery Eventually split brain patients learn to process information in a new manner. Many of the confusing and frustrating effects of the surgery tend to decrease.

Cerebral Hemisphere Dominance Left HemisphereRight Hemisphere Language Math Logic Spatial abilities Face recognition Visual imagery Music These are generalizations and in normal people, the two hemispheres work together, are connected, and share information through the corpus callosum.

Don’t be fooled by the spinning lady!!! Spinning Lady Clip

Brain Facts Male brains are slightly larger than female brains. (Don’t try out for Jeopardy just yet, guys) Plasticity- capacity to re- wire itself. Best when young. Adults can generate new brain cells and make new connections. Your brain uses about 20% of your body’s energy and makes up only 2% of your weight. The Cerebral Cortex has the surface area of a pillow case. Has about 100 billion neurons (octopus has 300 million)

How much of our brain do we actually use? All of it!! Which 90% would you like to lose? Brain imaging techniques have debunked the alluring 10% Myth Why do you think this is a commonly believed myth?