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The 1981 Nobel Prize Of Physiology And Medicine

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The 1981 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine

In the year of 1981 three gentlemen were awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine where the prize was divided and then shared amongst the three men. At the time of awarding, the three gentlemen specialized in the field of neurophysiology while two also specialized in the field of ocular physiology. One-half of the prize was awarded to Roger W. Sperry for his discoveries involving the cerebral hemispheres whereas the other half was awarded and split between David H. Hubel and Torsten N. Wiesel for their findings on the visual system. Therefore, together their research altered how people originally thought the brain processed information by verifying how the brain functions and why information is perceived in such a manner. The research conducted by Roger W. Sperry began in the 1960’s and dealt solely with the cerebrum. Before this time, society only understood the left hemisphere of the brain to be dominant over the right hemisphere. In this understanding, the cerebrum was composed of two halves, which were referred to as the hemispheres. The cerebrum consisted of the two hemispheres and millions of nerve fibers that allowed each hemisphere to distinguish what occurred in the other hemisphere. In the same sense, it was understood that although both the left and right hemisphere were the same in structure, their functions differed.
According to The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute press release, “Sperry has

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