Brain Explanations - Brain Injuries

Question 1

Phineas Gage - who was he and what happened to him?

Answer 1

• Railroad worker in the 1800’s
• the gunpowder charge blew when he was tamping it
• A 3ft iron rod went straight through his head, entering his mouth, passing behind his eye and out through the top of his skull
• He survived

Question 2

Phineas Gage - how did his personality and behaviour change after the accident?

Answer 2

Mild-mannered –> short tempered and rowdy

• extravagant and antisocial
• used bad language and had bad manners
• became a liar

Question 3

Phineas Gage - how was this change to him explained?

Answer 3

Neuroscientists believed the rod damaged his frontal lobe, which helps to make decisions and controls impulses