Psychological Brain Studies

The basis for all psychological studies and research all stems from the biology of human behaviour and specifically the human brain. This is because the human brain creates and controls every single example of human behaviour imaginable and that by studying the brain, we may gain a specific insight into how behaviour is created, where and why. Some of the most pioneering and revealing research studies in the area of the human brain, specifically the study of both the right and left hemispheres was conducted by Roger W. Sperry who is widely considered the father of this field, and Michael Gazzaniga. It is their specific research into patients who have had their Corpus Callosum removed, due to their suffering constant seizures, and how this severation …show more content…
These tests were based on showing a specific object either to the left hemisphere or on the right and seeing if the patients were able to identify these objects. Another test was touch, where each patient was given a bag with specific objects in and they were told to pick out this item either with their left hand or right hand depending on what hemisphere was being studied. The results from these tests were very intriguing because with the visual tests, the patients who saw the light bulbs on the right hemisphere were able to identify that they saw the bulbs. However when they were shown the lights on the left hemisphere the patients were unable to unable to explain what they saw. This proves that while both hemispheres saw the lights, only the right side allowed the patients to verbally explain what they had seen. This study also shows that the left hemisphere is unable to let us describe or even say what exactly we see. In reverse, during the touch tests, it was found that patients holding a specific object in their right hand, which is monitored by the left hemisphere, they were able to describe what the object was and what it was used for. When the object was placed in the left hand which is monitored by the right hemisphere they were unable to do so.

In researching …show more content…
However there were criticisms and perhaps the main one was how the information gained from the studies by Sperry and Gazzaniga was interpreted by our culture and the media. It led to the mistaken beliefs that we either have half a brain or two distinct brains which are both wrong. I find it fascinating to learn that when reading a book the left hemisphere understands the actual words and the right helps us to imagine what is happening in the story. I believe that Sperry and Gazzaniga conducted these experiements and studies in order to increase our understanding of the functions of the brain so that victims of head trauma such as a stroke can recieve better care and treatment because we will better understand which area of the brain is damaged and how to repair it. The article is extremely interesting to me because i now know that when i walk into my kitchen and i see a microwave, the right hemisphere allows me to say "that is my microwave". Whereas if i walk into my kitchen at night and i cannot see, if i put my hand on the microwave, the left hemisphere allows me to think "that is my