Damasio etal. ( 1941)- Phineas Gage Flashcards
What was the aim?
Using advanced technology that was not available to Gage’s doctors at the time. Damasio et al. looked to create a 3D representation of Gage’s skull to see where the iron rod may have passed through his skull and which parts of his brain was affected. This, in turn, would help Damasio et al. understand the changes in Gage’s personality by seeing which parts of the brain had been damaged
What was the procedure?
Damasio et al/ began by taking pictures and measurements of the skull of Phineas Gage from the information gathered, they built a virtual 3D replica model of a skull that matched the measurements of Gage’s skull. Also tried to work out the trajectory of the rod.
What were the findings?
The researchers believed that most likely damage would have been through both the right and left hemispheres of the frontal lobe in Gage’s brain and also that no other areas of the brain other than the frontal lobe were affected by the accident.
What was his conclusion?
The researchers belied the changes in Gage’s personality were down to damage to his ventromedial region, which deals with emotions and impulses which he was no longer able to control
What is the ventromedial region?
Deals with risk, fear and self-control
What were his strengths?
The researchers were able to use modern-day technology to investigate the data from 1848, meaning the results can be given more scientific status.
We can now make predictions about what changes to the behaviour we might expect if someone has damaged their frontal lobes.
What was his weakness?
Even though they used an exact replica of Gage’s skull, the information about how the accident happened is based on reports originally gathered over 150 years ago. ( information might not be very accurate).
