HM - case study of brain damged patient

Question 1

case study AO1

Answer 1

• triangulation or data, more in depth as it gathers both qual and quant
• usually longitudinal, can see how behaviour changed overtime
• focus on an individual or small group
• done in a naturalistic setting

Question 2

why do we study brian damaged patients?

Answer 2

• for treatment and rehabilitation
• to look at how it can affect cognitive functioning
• to see what each part of the brain is responsible for in terms of behaviour

Question 3

HM AO1

Answer 3

• when he was 7 he fell of his bike and was left unconscious for 5mins.
• following incident, at age 10 he began to have seizures which started minor but worsened as he got older.
• he underwent a surgery to remove his hippocampus as they thought it would stop his seizures, however this led to HM having brain damage in terms of his episodic LTM, while his procedural LTM and his STM remained intact. his IQ also improved and his personality didn’t change.
• he was studied for a period of 50 years.

Question 4

strengths of case studies in terms of HM

Answer 4

• high validity as they are longitudinal. they allow us to see changed in behaviour overtime. therefore, results will be more accurate as research is more in depth. (HM was studied for 50 years)
• high generalisability. all humans have the same brain with the same functions. therefore, findings from case studies investigating brain damaged patients can be applied to the wider population.

Question 5

weaknesses of case studies in terms of HM

Answer 5

• low ethics. if patients are brain damaged, like HM, they may not necessarily have the capacity to give fully informed consent to take part in the case study. therefore, it can be argued that ethical guidelines aren’t being followed.
• low validity. triangulation used to case tidies, including HM. this included qualitative data which is subjective and may be bias. therefore, realists from case studies on brain damaged patients may be less accurate.