The Brain: Structures and Functions

AP Psychology· difficulty 2/5

In a series of studies, Roger Sperry and Michael Gazzaniga tested patients whose corpus callosum had been severed to relieve severe epilepsy. Researchers flashed an image of a spoon to the patient's left visual field while the patient stared at a central dot. When asked what they saw, patients verbally reported "nothing." However, when asked to use the left hand to select an object hidden behind a screen, patients correctly chose the spoon.

These split-brain results provide direct evidence for what concept?

  • A

    Equipotentiality of cortical regions

  • B

    The all-or-none law of neural firing

  • C

    Hemispheric lateralization of function

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  • D

    Neural plasticity in adulthood

Explanation

Split-brain studies demonstrate that the two hemispheres specialize for different functions (lateralization), with language typically in the left hemisphere. Plasticity refers to reorganization, and the all-or-none law describes neural firing thresholds.

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