The Contribution of Split-Brain Studies to Our Understanding of Brain Functioning

Understanding brain functioning has been a complex phenomena in the field of Biopsychology yielding mountains of research, speculation and differing opinions amongst researchers. Obvious is that, which our brains are comprised up from two hemispheres, the right and the left (in Gazzaniga., 2002). With great scrutiny research has successfully demonstrated that the two hemispheres are highly specialized regions serving differing functions; a concept referred to as lateralization of function (in Passer, Smith, Holt, Bremner, Sutherland & Vliek 2009). For example, the left hemisphere is responsible for speech production whilst the right hemisphere deals with the comprehension of emotional responses. It is also the case that the right hemisphere governs the left side of the body and the left hemisphere governs the right side of the body with the brain displaying contralateral control (in Passer et al., 2009). A common misconception exhibited by most is that the brain acts as a whole, rather the brain is performs on a unitary level with independent functions (in Pinel., 2009).

Because the two cerebral hemispheres are known to communicate via the corpus callosum(in Pinel., 2009) researchers have been particularly intrigued with the idea of what happens when the communication between these hemispheres are disrupted. The corpus callosum is a bridge of nerve tissues in the brain which acts as a communication base (in Pinel., 2009). Damage to the corpus callosum results in a split brain, a situation where the neural connections in the brain are severed resulting in lost mental abilities. The consequences of these lost mental abilities can be demonstrated through a large number of split brain studies with the help two prominent researchers...

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...e that the brain serves many different purposes rather than being a unit of its own and that hemispheric differences exist in the brain. With or without communication through the corpus callsoum, the two cerebal hemispheres are perfectly capable of functioning in an independent manner.

Research aimed to understand the biological basis of hemispheric function has somewhat reached general consensus. However, individual variations must be acknowledged in split brain patients as cognitive abilities vary significantly.

References:

Gazzaniga, M. S. (2002). The split brain revisited.

Passer, M., Smith, R., Holt, N., Bremner, A., Sutherland, E., & Vliek, M. (2009). Psychology; Science of Mind and Behaviour. (European Edition).Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill. New York.

Pinel, J.P.J. (2009). Biopsychology (7th ed.). Allyn and Bacon. Pearson Education Limited.