Issues in Neuroscience

Neuroscience
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Split Brain
A patient who is suffering from the split-brain condition is unable to name an object that he or she sees in the left visual field. This phenomenon may be explained in several ways. The left visual field refers to the left half of what is viewed with both eyes. Patients who suffer from the condition are unable to name just precisely what they have seen. This results from several things. One is that once an image is perceived on the left visual field, then it is immediately sent to the right side of the individual’s brain (Cohen et al., 2000). For a majority of individuals, the part of the brain that controls speech is the left side. Because, communication between the two parts of the brain is subdued, naming the object in question becomes a problem. Hemispheric lateralization is very important with regards to the functions of the two sides of the brain. Understanding how they work ultimately leads to knowing which roles are performed by the two hemispheres.
Having surgery to correct split-brain condition can result in a split-brain situation where information is not relayed efficiently and ultimately affects the person’s agency and behavior. This is because the operation involves severing the corpus callosum, which is the primary bond between the two hemispheres of the brain CITATION Dor12 l 1033 (Doron & Bassett, 2012). Physiotherapy is essential in helping the patient get back on track and reduce side effects such as the inability to remember things, paralysis and stroke.

There is a need to conduct further research on the split-brain condition and although no one’s life is expendable, if more insight can be gained through such research, then it should be done. Sufficient care should be taken to ensure that the patient does not suffer.
References
BIBLIOGRAPHY Doron, K., & Bassett, D. (2012). The dynamic network structure of interhemispheric coordination. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 18661-18668.
Cohen, L., Dehaene, S., Naccache, L., Lehéricy, S., Dehaene-Lambertz, G., Hénaff, M. A., & Michel, F. (2000). The visual word form area: spatial and temporal characterization of an initial stage of reading in normal subjects and posterior split-brain patients. Brain, 123(2), 291-307.