Below is a copy of an e-mail I received from Dr. Robert Nebes on April 16, 2016.

More information about Dr. Robert Nebes can be found at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Robert_Nebes

I was a graduate student with Dr. Sperry from October of 1965 until I defended in October of 1970.

My research in his lab focused on hemispheric specialization, especially of the disconnected right hemisphere for spatial abilities.

I must admit my interactions with Dr. Sperry were fairly formal. He seemed most comfortable with people who were outgoing and assertive, which I certainly was not. He definitely was not controlling, but was more likely to say why don't you look into this general area. Rather than assign a definite topic he let me go off in a variety of directions on my own which, while being fairly inefficient, certainly helped me in my later career where I had to come up with my own research directions. While I didn't get a lot of day to day help from him specifically, the people he had put together in his lab, both staff and researchers, provided a diverse and very helpful environment for learning how to be an independent investigator.

My research career was in a very different area (see below) from that of Dr. Sperry's lab in that it dealt with larger subject samples rather than the sort of focused single subject studies that were common in split brain research. Thus, much of the specific technical skills I learned in his lab did not carry over into my research. What did help me during my career was his guidance in communicating both in writing and talks. My first paper with him was extremely painful (17 drafts), but by the end, I had gotten a good start in how to present research findings and conclusions in a clear and compelling manner. Dr. Sperry was I believe an English major in college and it certainly showed in his communication skills. Instruction in how to give a talk also proved crucial. I learned both from his specific suggestions and from general guidance he gave to all (see attachment). I only wish more speakers would have had his guidance so I would have encountered fewer rambling unfocused presentations with no real "take home lesson" - a core issue with Dr. Sperry.

I have been retired for two years and am an emeritus professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School. Most of my career was devoted to studying the cognitive effects of normal aging (which I am now living), geriatric depression and Alzheimer's disease - a far cry from split brain research. My concentration on topics with a medical orientation resulted from being in psychiatry departments both at Duke university and the University of Pittsburgh where I ended up interacting with investigators dealing with brain disease. All this sprang from an initial post doc at Duke with a neurologist who was investigating the cognitive effects of specific brain lesions - a natural follow up to my work with Dr. Sperry, but one that led to a very different line of research. I ended up staying on the faculty at Duke for 11 years before moving to the University of Pittsburgh for the last 30 plus years of my career.