Roger Sperry
American neurobiologist known for split-brain research
American neurobiologist at the California Institute of Technology. He proposed that nerve connections form through chemical markers, led split-brain research with his student Michael Gazzaniga, and shared the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Why this person matters
Sperry's work with patients whose hemispheres had been surgically disconnected is the usual route into hemispheric specialisation. It was collaborative: Ronald Myers worked with him on the corpus callosum in 1953, and Michael Gazzaniga began as his graduate student.
Main contributions
Split-brain research
In the early 1960s Sperry studied epilepsy patients whose hemispheres had been separated and found that the right hemisphere has its own perception, memory and consciousness. Michael Gazzaniga worked with him on these patients. The 1981 Nobel Prize recognised work on the specialisation of the cerebral hemispheres.
Chemoaffinity hypothesis
Around 1951 he proposed that axons find their target cells through specific chemical markers. This challenged Paul Weiss's view that nerve connections are non-specific.
Context and limits
Sperry trained in English literature, psychology and zoology and did postdoctoral work with Karl Lashley. From 1965 he also published philosophical papers on mind and consciousness. The sources read do not discuss later criticism of the split-brain interpretation or the popular left-brain and right-brain story, so those are not assessed here.
In your introductory course
Biological bases of behaviour.Appears in the biological bases chapter where split-brain studies and hemispheric specialisation are taught.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 3.1. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1941
Received his PhD in zoology from the University of Chicago under Paul Weiss.
- 1952
Became a section chief at the National Institutes of Health.
- 1954
Joined the California Institute of Technology as Hixon Professor of Psychobiology.
- 1981
Shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel.
Sources
- Encyclopedia.com, Sperry, Roger WolcottReference work. Reference article inspected.
- Arizona State University Embryo Project Encyclopedia, Roger Wolcott Sperry (1913 to 1994)University. Institutional biography inspected.
- Wikipedia, Michael Gazzaniga (split-brain work under Sperry)Reference work. Reference article inspected.