HM case study Flashcards
what surgery did HM get ?
brain surgery
what year and age did HM get surgery ?
age 27
1953
why did HM get brain surgery ?
to alleviate his symptoms of epilepsy
what part of the brain was removed in HMs surgery ?
the hippocampus
what was HM diagnosed with after his surgery ?
anterograde amnesia
retrograde amnesia
what is anterograde amnesia ?
when the brain can’t store new information in the short term memory
what is retrograde amnesia ?
the loss of memory for events which happened before the injury
after his surgery HMs STM was normal but whay couldn’t he transfer new memory to ?
Long term memory
HM had no knowledge of current affairs or recent family events, give an example of a recent family event that HM struggled to recall
his fathers death
what could HM remember after his surgery ?
people he knew from a long time ago
HM was soon assessed on his recall of salient personal events - what could he recall and what couldn’t he recall ?
- he could barely recall his fathers death
- he had no memory of his workplace
- he could draw a floor plan of his house
- he had no awareness of national or international events
- he could identify Kennedy when shown a dollar and recalled that he was assassinated
what did HMs neurological experiment assess ?
any changes, and coordination and motor impairment
what was discovered about HMs IQ before and after his brain surgery ?
his IQ had increased from 104 to 112!
what tasks did HM have to complete during his neurological experiment ?
- sorting tasks, e.g wisconsin card sorting tasks
- perceptual tasks e.g mooney face perception task
what was the mooney face perception task ?
involves recognizing a face from black and white pattern with incomplete contour
participants have to give the sex and approximate age of the face
