Some functional effects of sectioning the cerebral commissures in man*

It has been possible in studies of callosum-sectioned cats and monkeys in recent years to obtain consistent demonstration of a variety of interhemispheric integrational functions mediated by the corpus callosum.(1,2) These animal findings stand in marked contrast to the apparent lack of corresponding functional deficits produced by similar surgery in human patients.(3-9) The general picture of callosal functions based on the animal studies tends to be supported in current early testing of a 48-year-old male war veteran with recent complete section of the corpus callosum, anterior and hippocampal commissures.