Sperry is best known for split-brain research, in which he tested these patients after they had the surgery. Initially he discovered that there are two modes of thinking, verbal and nonverbal. Verbal thought is represented in the left hemisphere while nonverbal thought is represented in the right hemisphere. Once he learned this, he did more research to find out if each hemisphere of the brain could operate on its own.The split-brain experiments that Sperry conducted helped researchers to develop a map of the brain. This laid the groundwork for an entire field of research studying how the human brain functions. As a result, in 1981, he won the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
