In a study, researchers tested split-brain patients whose corpus callosum had been severed. Each patient fixated on a central dot while the word "KEY" was flashed to the left visual field and "RING" to the right visual field. When asked to verbally report what they saw, patients said "RING," but when asked to use their left hand to select an object behind a screen, they chose a key.
If the same stimuli were presented for several seconds rather than briefly flashed, how would the results most likely change?
- Acheck_circle
Patients would report seeing both words because eye movements would let each hemisphere see both stimuli
- B
Patients would still report only RING because language is left-lateralized
- C
Patients would be unable to identify either object
- D
Patients would identify KEY verbally and RING manually
Explanation
Brief tachistoscopic flashes are required because longer presentations allow saccades that send each word to both hemispheres, eliminating the lateralization effect.