case study of brain damaged patients and the use of qualitative data

Question 1

describe case study HM

Answer 1

• suffered from epilepsy cause by head injury
  -scoville removed part of his temporal lobe, hippocampus and amygdala
• suffered amnesia, could remember childhood not years leading up to surgery
• brenda milner conducted case study

Question 2

what was the aim of HM case study

Answer 2

investigate extent and nature of HMs memory and how they relate to his brain damage

Question 3

what was the method of HM case study

Answer 3

recall events from childhood and before operation, trace correct route through maze, copy 5 point star in the mirror

Question 4

what we’re the results of HM case study

Answer 4

forgot all new experiences after 30s
clear childhood memories
showed improvement on star task

Question 5

what conclusions were made from HM case study

Answer 5

clear difference between ST and LT memory
hippocampus plays vital role in transitioning STM to LTM

Question 6

evaluate HM in terms of generalisability

Answer 6

only one out of 9 with clean amnesia
more representative
memory not tested before
surgery will never happen again

Question 7

evaluate HM in terms of reliability

Answer 7

standardised procedure of memory test
he never remembered doing test before
case studies hard to replicate

Question 8

evaluate HM in terms of validity

Answer 8

clean amnesia
observations
every environment not natural for him

Question 9

evaluate HM in terms of ethics

Answer 9

consented to surgery but no one knew side effects
couldn’t withhold consent