HM: Milner (1966)

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

To study the role of the hippocampus on memory formation in a longitudinal case study.

Question 2

Method

Answer 2

HM is a patient who fell of his bicycle when he was very young sustaining a serious head injury

• Psychometric tests were done to assess HM’s IQ to measure his general cognitive abilities
• Direct observations were also done to monitor HM’s behavior to gather qualitative data
• Neurological imaging was done on his brain in the form of MRIs to visually assess the extent of his brain damage, especially in the temporal lobe and hippocampus
• Cognitive tests were done on HM to test his memory capabilities such as memory recall tasks and learning tasks
• He participated in many interviews to collect subjective accounts of his memory performance, sometimes including his family

Question 3

Findings

Answer 3

• He suffered from retrograde amnesia (can’t remember past memories from before the surgery) and anterograde amnesia (can’t create new memories)
• HM could not acquire new episodic knowledge (memory of events)
• HM could not acquire new semantic knowledge (general knowledge about the world)
• Shows that the parts of his brain that were removed were important in transferring short-term memory to long-term memory
• His procedural memories were well maintained in which he improved his skills overtime but never remembered practicing the skill
• Reverse mirror drawing of a star
• Knew how to mow a lawn
  He was also able to form a cognitive map of the **spatial layout of his house **as he remembered where things were.

Question 4

Ethics

Answer 4

Met high ethical standards of consent, confidentiality, and protection from harm.