Sperry was awarded this prestigious award for his work with "split-brain" patients.
Such "split-brain" patients appear, superficially, entirely normal after the surgery.
In human split-brain patients, it is quite clear that fairly elaborate logical analysis can proceed surrounded by verbal incompetence.
In split-brain patients it has been shown that the left hemisphere retains language function, the right does not.
Disconnection studies in split-brain patients supported this conclusion, showing that the left hemisphere is sufficient for language.
Studies on split-brain patients have dominated Dr. Gazzaniga's work ever since.
Strong support for this hypothesis comes from studies of split-brain patients who use the right hemisphere for reading.
After thousands of experiments carried out on normal subjects and split-brain patients, scientists still passionately disagree.
More recently, however, interest in the left and right brain is due to work involving split-brain patients.
Other researchers have been able to overcome this problem in split-brain patients.
