HM (1966)

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

To investigate the effect of surgery on the patient HM

Question 2

Participants:

Answer 2

HM

Question 3

Procedure:

Answer 3

-MRI scan was conducted on HM’s brain
-IQ tests on HM
-Interviews with HM and his family
-Cognitive testing such as memory and learning tasks
-Observation

Question 4

Results

Answer 4

The researchers found that HM could no longer gain/retain any new episodic or semantic memory. This most likely meant that the part of his brain removed was important for the transfer of short term to long term memory. It was however also found that HM was able to remember what hisi home looked like and could draw a floor plan of his new home, this suggests that his cognitive mapping was intact and that this type of information is stored differently than semantic and episodic memory. HM working memory was also still in tact as he could hold conversations which indicates some level of ability to remember things which were just said or heard. FInally, procedural memory was also seen to still be working as HM could still know how to mow the lawn and he should improvement in tasks which he didn’t even remember learning.