and language. Recovery from the anesthesia is rapid, and EEG recordings and distal grip strength may be used to determine when the medication has worn off. Generally, recovery of speech is dysphasic (contains errors in speech or comprehension) after a language dominant hemisphere injection. Though generally considered a safe procedure, there are at least minimal risks associated with the angiography procedure that guides the catheter to the internal carotid artery, perhaps related to the physician's experience. Researchers are looking into non-invasive ways to determine language and memory laterality—such as fMRI, TMS, magnetoencephalography, and near-infrared spectroscopy. History The Wada test is named after Japanese neurologist and epileptologist Juhn Atsushi Wada, of the University of British Columbia. He developed the test while he was a medical resident in Japan just after World War II, when he was receiving training in neurosurgery. Wada developed the technique of transient hemispheric anesthetization through carotid amytal injection to decrease the cognitive side effects associated with bilateral electroconvulsive therapy. He published the initial description of motor, sensory, language, and effects on the "conscious state" in 1949, in Japanese. During his fellowship at the Montreal Neurological Institute, he introduced the test to the English-speaking world. Filmography Grey's Anatomy season 5, episode 23, Here's to Future Days: Mention of the Wada test at 00:06:13 and showing Hollywood's portrayal of the test at 00:12:31. See also Lateralization of brain function References Diagnostic neurology Neuropsychology