Haley Gatza

1/20/15
Psychology
One Brain or Two?

The research from "One Brain or Two" was pioneered by Roger W.

Sperry later joined by Michael Gazzaniga. The research questions they had
were: "If the information traveling between the two halves of your brain is
interrupted, would the right side of your body suddenly be unable to
coordinate with the left? If language is controlled by the left side of the brain,
how would your ability to speak and understand words be affected by this
surgery? Would thinking and reasoning processes exist in both halves
separately? If the brain is really two separate brains, would a person be
capable of functioning normally when these two brains are no longer able to
communicate?" Roger Sperry and Michael Gazzaniga had many more
questions and attempted to answer them all with researching and performing
experiments.
This type of research is a laboratory observation therefore does not
have an independent or dependant variable. The researchers developed 3
types of tests: The first one involved transmitting a picture of an object, a
word, or parts of words in either the right or left brain hemispheres, but not
both. The second test was designed for the participants to feel, but not see,
an object, a block letter, or even a word in cutout block letters.

The patients intelligence level, personality, typical emotional reactions,

and so one were relatively unchanged. Patients were free of seizures (they
were very happy about that according to Gazzaniga). The visual abilities
were tested by showing a flashing light to the right brain then the left side of
the brain when asked the participants said they only saw the light on the
right side, but when ask to point where they saw the flashing light they
pointed to both sides. Both sides saw the lights but the left side is the center
of speech, so if you were to say you saw something the object has to have
been seen by the left side of your brain. The results for the second
observation were when the object was placed in the right hand the patient
could name the object and describe them and their uses but when placed in
the left hand they could not name or describe the object. This is because
your right side of your brain is a transmitted via the corpus callosum and the
left side is where the center of language is.
The research findings are important because they show that the left
brain is better at speaking, writing, math, and reading is the center for
language, while your right brain recognizes faces, and plays a role in solving
problems like spacial relationships, symbolic reasoning, and artistic activity.
Therefore, it is important because it shows the different functions of the two
hemispheres. The research findings presented in the reading I summarized
and the psychology textbook has a connection because the textbook
explains some of the terms used in "One Brain or Two" and also explains
more in depth in why the results were what they were.

I can use this knowledge to live a better and more informed life by
knowing how my brain works and which side is responsible of different
functions.

Work Cited
Roger R. Hock. Forty Studies That Changed Psychology: Boston: By Pearson
Education, Inc, 2005.
Saundra K. Ciccarelli and J. Noland White. Psychology: Upper Saddle River,
New Jersey: By Pearson Education, Inc 2009.