Lateralisation of Function

Question 1

what’s hemisphere lateralisation?

Answer 1

• each hemisphere controls the opposite side of the body and visual field
• what you see in your right visual field is processed by your left hemisphere

Question 2

left hemisphere

Answer 2

• language processing is done in the left hemisphere
• language is subject to hemisphere lateralisation

Question 3

right hemisphere

Answer 3

• recognises emotions in others
• deals with spatial information
• drawing ability
• recognises faces

Question 4

what’s the corpus callosum?

Answer 4

• joins the two hemispheres
• messages travelling between the two hemispheres pass through the corpus callosum
• if this is damaged, the hemispheres can’t communicate

Question 5

split brain research

Answer 5

• Sperry (1968) studied a group of individuals who had their corpus callosum severed to control their epilepsy
• has been useful in understanding the role of each hemisphere

Question 6

weakness of split brain research - generalisability

Answer 6

• unusual and small sample of people
• difficult to find larger sample

Question 7

strength of split brain research - reliability

Answer 7

• highly standardised procedure in lab
• replicable

Question 8

strength of split brain research - applicability

Answer 8

• produced impressive research findings
• equipment and procedure enabled the functions of the two hemispheres to be studied in ways that had been impossible before
• the more we understand about lateralisation, the more we can help those with brain damage

Question 9

strength of localisation - Peterson et al (1988)

Answer 9

• used brain scans to demonstrate how Wernicke’s area was active during a listening task and Broca’s area was active during a reading task
• suggests that these areas of the brain have different functions
• supports the idea of localisation

Question 10

strength of localisation - Tulving et al (1994)

Answer 10

• conducted a study of long-term memory
• revealed that semantic and episodic memories occupy different parts of the prefrontal cortex
• suggests that these areas of the brain have different functions
• supports idea of localisation

Question 11

strength of localisation - case studies

Answer 11

Phineas Gage
- suffered an accident in which an iron rod took out a portion of his frontal lobe
- caused a dramatic change in his personality
- supports localisation theory as it suggests that the frontal lobe is responsible for regulating mood

Question 12

strength of lateralisation - Sperry