Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Mike or me? Self-recognition in a split-brain patient.

David J Turk1, Todd F Heatherton, William M Kelley

  • 1Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Moore Hall, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, USA. david.j.turk@dartmouth.edu

Nature Neuroscience
|August 27, 2002
PubMed
Summary

Split-brain patients reveal distinct facial recognition biases. The left hemisphere favors self-recognition, while the right hemisphere shows a bias for recognizing familiar others, suggesting specialized processing.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Are societies becoming more self-centric? Evidence from five decades of popular music spanning three continents.

PloS one·2026
Same author

It's Probably Mine: Self-Prioritization Can Be a Decisional Strategy.

Cognitive science·2026
Same author

Social mindfulness is associated with reduced self-bias: A computational approach.

Consciousness and cognition·2026
Same author

Brief mindfulness meditation increases risk-taking behavior.

Scientific reports·2026
Same author

No disconnection syndrome after near-complete callosotomy.

Communications psychology·2025
Same author

Full interhemispheric integration sustained by a fraction of posterior callosal fibers.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2025

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Neuropsychology
  • Human Brain Function

Background:

  • The corpus callosum facilitates interhemispheric communication in the human brain.
  • Split-brain surgery, involving corpus callosum severance, provides insights into hemispheric specialization.
  • Facial recognition is a complex cognitive process involving multiple brain regions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate hemispheric differences in facial recognition capabilities in a split-brain patient.
  • To explore potential dissociations between self-recognition and recognition of familiar others.
  • To examine the role of each cerebral hemisphere in processing self vs. familiar faces.

Main Methods:

  • A split-brain patient was presented with morphed facial stimuli.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Stimuli were presented unilaterally to either the left or right cerebral hemisphere.
  • The patient was tasked with identifying the faces as either self or a familiar other.

    • Main Results:

    • Both cerebral hemispheres demonstrated the capacity for facial recognition.
    • The left hemisphere exhibited a bias towards recognizing the self.
    • The right hemisphere displayed a bias towards recognizing familiar others.

    Conclusions:

    • Findings suggest a functional dissociation in facial processing between the brain hemispheres.
    • The left hemisphere may be specialized for self-recognition.
    • The right hemisphere might be more involved in generalized face processing of familiar individuals.