Summary
Summary EValuate research into hemispheric lateralisation of the brain .16 marks
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- Biopsychology
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- AQA
An Amazing 16 marker plan for AQA psychology Biopsychology.
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Lateralisation refers to the fact that two halves are not exactly alike and eachhemisphere has functional specialisations e.g. left hemisphere is dominant for language
whereas right excels for visual-motor tasks . the two hemispheres are connected and
connected through corpus callosum .
Conducted Spilt brain research used participants who had commissurotomy and this involved
by sperry removing the corpus callosum as they has severe seizures. the main communication
line was removed between the two hemispheres. The experiment had three conditions
and the first condition was describe what can you see participants were asked to focus
on the fixation point and then an image or word was presented to one of their visual
field . spilt brain study finds that picture projected to right visual field the patient could
easily describe what they had seen .however when word projected to left visual field
and they reported that there was nothing there .this supports that hemispheric
lateralisation as language is processed in the left hemisphere
Lack of One issue Sperry used a control group of people with no history of epileptic seizures.
control Therefore, can be seen as an inappropriate group to use an comparison. As the spilt
brain research suffers from elipsely nd thus has caused unique changed in the brain
that influenced the findings. this limits the extent to which findings can be generalised
to normal brains, reducing the validity of conclusions.
Age affects furthermore, research has suggested that lateralisation changes with age. Szaflarski et
lateralisation al. (2006) found that language became more lateralised to the left hemisphere with
SZAFLARki increasing age in children and adolescents, but after the age of 25, lateralisation
decreased with each decade of life. This raises questions about lateralisation, such as
whether everyone has one hemisphere that is dominant over the other and whether
this dominance changes with age.
Lateralisation It is assumed that the main advantage of brain lateralisation is that it increases neural
can aid in processing capacity (the ability to perform multiple tasks simultaneously). Rogers et al.
cognitive (2004) found that in a domestic chicken, brain lateralisation is associated with an
tasks
enhanced ability to perform two tasks simultaneously (finding food and being vigilant
Rogers et al for predators). Using only one hemisphere to engage in a task leaves the other
hemisphere free to engage in other functions. This provides evidence for the
advantages of brain lateralisation and demonstrates how it can enhance brain efficiency
in cognitive tasks.
Functional Finally, it could be argued that language may not be restricted to the left
recovery hemisphere. Turk et al. (2002) discovered a patient who suffered damage to the left
contradicts hemisphere but developed the capacity to speak in the right hemisphere, eventually
lateralisation leading to the ability to speak about the information presented to either side of the
Turk et al brain. This suggests that perhaps lateralisation is not fixed and that the brain can adapt
following damage to certain areas.
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