Experiment/study What happened What shows/findings
name
L1 / MAOA gene, The low activity form of the MAOA gene Natura and nurtune work together to affect human behavior.
low MAO activity (MAOA-L) has been linked to increased Maltreated children with low-activity MAOA gene genotype
levels of aggression and violence. develop more aggressive tendencies, the study illustrates how
More easily convicted for violent crimes genetics and environment play a combined role in determining
personality traits
L2 / Phineas Gage The injury damaged the part of his brain it was the earliest recorded case of brain damage affecting
(rod in the brain) where judgement and ability to make personality
good decisions are located
L2 / Dots on the screen, retina provides a they demonstrated that specialized neurons in the occipital lobe’s
Hubel/Wiesel’s response visual cortex respond to specific features of an image such as
cat experiment angles, lines, curves, & movement.
EX. the area behind your right ear enables you to recognize faces.
Damage to this area can result in prosopagnosia, (aka facial
blindness).
L2 / Sperry – how Split-brain patient When the hemispheres are disconnected, one half of the brain
brain - If a picture was shown to the left visual doesn't know what the other half is doing. The left hemisphere is
hemispheres field, the participant did not recognise it specialised for language and writing, the right hemisphere is
work the n the same picture appeared in the specialised for imagination and music awareness
independently in right visual field
patients with no - If visual material appeared in the right
corpus callum visual field, the patient could describe
tin speech and writing
- If visual material appeared to the left
visual field, the patient could identify
there see object with their left hand but
not their right hand
, L3 / Nakayama Patients had to report if they saw a Specific patterns of the brain can predict what a person is seeing.
Superimposed house or a face, then researched used Type of awareness is related to which brain region processes the
house/face fMRI > fusiform face area was active particular sensory info.
when seeing a face, temporal cortex
when seeing a house
L3 / Sperry In one case, the patient was shown a Gazzaniga’s experiments thus helped to demonstrate the
Gazzaniga chicken claw (L hemisphere) and was lateralization of language as well as other functional differences
Split brain asked to pick a picture with his R hand. between the left and right hemispheres.
patients (no He chose that of a chicken. When asked
corpus callum) why, he correctly pointed out the link The left brain dominates for language, speech, and problem
shovel and between the claw and the bird. Then he solving
chicken shit > was shown a snowy scene (R The right brain dominates for visual-motor tasks
hemisphere) and once again was asked
to pick a picture. He picked that of a
shovel. When asked why however, his R
brain could not reply, because the verbal
functions are mostly located in the other
hemisphere!
the L hemisphere (which controls
language) had no idea why the subject
had picked the shovel, but it made up
an explanation nevertheless on the
basis of the information it had!! The
patient said ‘Well… you need a shovel to
clean out the chicken coop!’
L3 / Libet’s Patient should press bottom when he electrical activity specifically associates performance of a
experiment- wanted > brain activity initiated voluntary act occurring before the 1st conscious awareness
readiness movement before person actually
potential and free voluntary decided
will
name
L1 / MAOA gene, The low activity form of the MAOA gene Natura and nurtune work together to affect human behavior.
low MAO activity (MAOA-L) has been linked to increased Maltreated children with low-activity MAOA gene genotype
levels of aggression and violence. develop more aggressive tendencies, the study illustrates how
More easily convicted for violent crimes genetics and environment play a combined role in determining
personality traits
L2 / Phineas Gage The injury damaged the part of his brain it was the earliest recorded case of brain damage affecting
(rod in the brain) where judgement and ability to make personality
good decisions are located
L2 / Dots on the screen, retina provides a they demonstrated that specialized neurons in the occipital lobe’s
Hubel/Wiesel’s response visual cortex respond to specific features of an image such as
cat experiment angles, lines, curves, & movement.
EX. the area behind your right ear enables you to recognize faces.
Damage to this area can result in prosopagnosia, (aka facial
blindness).
L2 / Sperry – how Split-brain patient When the hemispheres are disconnected, one half of the brain
brain - If a picture was shown to the left visual doesn't know what the other half is doing. The left hemisphere is
hemispheres field, the participant did not recognise it specialised for language and writing, the right hemisphere is
work the n the same picture appeared in the specialised for imagination and music awareness
independently in right visual field
patients with no - If visual material appeared in the right
corpus callum visual field, the patient could describe
tin speech and writing
- If visual material appeared to the left
visual field, the patient could identify
there see object with their left hand but
not their right hand
, L3 / Nakayama Patients had to report if they saw a Specific patterns of the brain can predict what a person is seeing.
Superimposed house or a face, then researched used Type of awareness is related to which brain region processes the
house/face fMRI > fusiform face area was active particular sensory info.
when seeing a face, temporal cortex
when seeing a house
L3 / Sperry In one case, the patient was shown a Gazzaniga’s experiments thus helped to demonstrate the
Gazzaniga chicken claw (L hemisphere) and was lateralization of language as well as other functional differences
Split brain asked to pick a picture with his R hand. between the left and right hemispheres.
patients (no He chose that of a chicken. When asked
corpus callum) why, he correctly pointed out the link The left brain dominates for language, speech, and problem
shovel and between the claw and the bird. Then he solving
chicken shit > was shown a snowy scene (R The right brain dominates for visual-motor tasks
hemisphere) and once again was asked
to pick a picture. He picked that of a
shovel. When asked why however, his R
brain could not reply, because the verbal
functions are mostly located in the other
hemisphere!
the L hemisphere (which controls
language) had no idea why the subject
had picked the shovel, but it made up
an explanation nevertheless on the
basis of the information it had!! The
patient said ‘Well… you need a shovel to
clean out the chicken coop!’
L3 / Libet’s Patient should press bottom when he electrical activity specifically associates performance of a
experiment- wanted > brain activity initiated voluntary act occurring before the 1st conscious awareness
readiness movement before person actually
potential and free voluntary decided
will
