A man with damage to his corpus callosum stares at a point straight ahead while someone flashes HOUSEBOAT on a screen for a split second. The word HOUSE is on the left half of the screen and BOAT is on the right. He is asked what he saw. What will he probably reply?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The corpus callosum connects the two hemispheres of the brain, facilitating communication between them. Damage to this structure can impair the transfer of information. Visual information from the left visual field (where "HOUSE" was displayed) is processed by the right hemisphere, and information from the right visual field (where "BOAT" was displayed) is processed by the left hemisphere. Since language processing is typically dominated by the left hemisphere, the man would more likely be able to verbalize "BOAT," which appeared on the right side of the screen and thus was processed by his left hemisphere.

A Man with Damage to His Corpus Callosum Stares at a Point