H. M Flashcards
Why did H.M have a partial lobotomy?
he cracked his skull in an accident as a child which caused him to have seizures
What effects did the partial lobotomy have on his memory?
lost most of his memories from the past decade
he was unable to form new memories
Which part of H.Ms brain was removed?
the hippocampus
Why were lobotomies thought to be successful?
It was thought mental functions were strictly localised to corresponding areas of the brain.
They had been successfully done to reduce seizures in psychosis
What were the results of H.Ms lobotomy?
The seizures had disappeared?
He had no change in his personality
What did H.Ms case study teach us about memory?
It proved that there was a distinction between long-term and short-term memory and that each uses different brain region.
H.M’s basal ganglia
he still learnt how to play tennis
he improved on the star tracing task
H.M’s hypothalamus
couldn’t identify feelings of tiredness / hunger
H.M’s Parahippocampal Gyrus
impaired - couldn’t identify smells
learnt what an astronaut was
H.M’s hippocampus
couldn’t improve on maze task
What happened to his early episodic memory?
it was still intact
What happened to his recent episodic memory?
it was impaired
what happened to his semantic memory?
it was partially intact but also impaired
what was the aim of the case study?
to investigate the extent of H.Ms memory deficits and how they relate to his brain damage
what was the sample for the case study?
One adult male, H.M., aged 27
he suffered from both retrograde amnesia (loss of memories before his operation) & anterograde amnesia (loss of memories after his brain operation)
