Neuropsychology on Split Brain - Research Paper Example

The brain is also very segmented in that specific parts of the brain are responsible for different tasks in ability and processing. Even though all of these different parts of the brain operate differently in processing and storage of a particular stimulus, they still communicate with one another in effort to process and integrate sensations more efficiently and more fully. One of the biggest divisions in the brain’s structure is the right and left hemisphere. Each is responsible for its own processing of data and they have to communicate with each other in order to understand the whole picture.

As a result of this, a great deal of research has been devoted into split-brain studies in trying to figure out how the two hemispheres work in tandem as well as how they work separately. Like the Earth, the brain is divided into two hemispheres: the right and left hemispheres. They are as much independent as they are intertwined. Researchers and psychologist hypothesize that the division of the two hemispheres makes them more like two minds rather than one. Research has shown that the left hemisphere is more dominant and responsible for processes involving language whereas the right hemisphere is designed to process spatial relationships.

This has been proven through experimentation as well as natural medical phenomenon. When a person has a stroke and it impacts an area of the brain, it is observed that functioning that is associated with that area decreases. The way in which we process the environment and information is when these two hemispheres are in sync and are communicating with one another. For example, the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body and the ride side of the brain controls the left side of the body.

This is achieved by a connection known as the corpus callosum. The corpus callosum is a thick band of neural fibers, which essentially anchor both hemispheres together in order to facilitate communication. If this connection were to be severed, then the way in which the hemispheres could communicate would be separated, thus creating two different minds within one. This is never done for research, although it has been used in epileptic patients in order to cure seizures. Research was conducted (not through severing the corpus callosum) on the dual processing of the two hemispheres and designing tests in which the effects of separating the corpus callosum could be simulated and the behavior observed.

This involved a combination of visual recognition tasks as well as tactile response tasks. In the visual tasks, their vision was altered in some way in which the disruption of communication occurred to where only one side of the brain was processing, while the other was missing the sensory input. In tactile response experiments, participants were asked to identify objects. Depending on which hand it was placed in had an effect on whether they could verbalize the recognition of the object. The research was able to conclude that there were remarkable differences in the way the two minds operate independently of each other.

In fact, it is shown from some research that by having a set of brains versus one unified one leads to increased ability to dual process and complete tasks (Gazzaniga, 1967). Since the first studies and research that were conducted into split brain research