Case Study H.M. Flashcards
aim of H.M. study
study extent and nature of H.M.’s memory deficits and structure/function of hippocampus
sample of H.M.
adult male
aged 27 at start
had retrograde and anterograde amnesia
procedure of H.M.
- simple recall tasks of his life before and after operation then IQ, perception and general knowledge tasks
- repeated maze tasks to see if he could remember route
- repeated 5 point star drawing using mirror
results of H.M.
- he forgot all new experiences after about 30 seconds
- remembered info from before 16th birthday but lacked context
- personality, language, perception and IQ consistent and above-average
- couldn’t recognise himself in mirror
- some knowledge of past events, did acquire some new knowledge and learnt how to play tennis
- over 252 attempts he never improved on maze task
- made fewer than 5 mistakes each time for star drawing on day 3 compared to 30 errors at start
conclusions of H.M. study
- clear difference between STM and LTM
- hippocampus plays vital role in transferring STM to LTM
- remembered skills but forgot events so hippocampus needed for declarative memories but not procedural memories
generalisability of H.M.
Low
- case study of 1 unique participant means results cannot be generalised to a wider population
- however everyone has a very similar hippocampus structure so it can be applied to most individuals
reliability of H.M.
Low
- case study cannot be replicated ethically and it was studied over 51 years so difficult to check for consistency
High
- qualitative data gathered from interviews and observations so very detailed
validity of H.M.
Low internal
- no control over extraneous variables that may also have affected memory
- reduces ability to determine cause and effect
High
- triangulated as they used interviews, observations and standardised memory tests to gain detailed qualitative and quantitative data on his memory issues
ethics of H.M.
Low
- inability to give informed consent due to no memory and vulnerable situation
- wouldn’t be able to recall any right to withdraw or debrief
