Milner (1966)

Question 1

What type of case study is this

Answer 1

Longitudinal case study

Question 2

Quick explanation of what happened to HM

Answer 2

HM began to have seizures after sustaining a serious head injury when he was 7 years old. Medication did not help him so a neurosurgeon performed an experimental surgery on him where they removed tissue from the medial temporal lobe (including the hippocampus) on both sides of HM’s brain.

Question 3

Aim

Answer 3

To better understand the effects that the surgery had had on patient HM

Question 4

What type of memory was impaired in H.M. after his surgery?

Answer 4

H.M. could not form new long-term memories (anterograde amnesia)

Question 5

How did H.M.’s surgery affect his short-term memory (STM)?

Answer 5

H.M.’s STM remained intact; he could retain information for short periods as long as he was not distracted.

Question 6

What type of memory remained intact in H.M. despite his inability to form new long-term memories?

Answer 6

H.M. retained the ability to learn new motor skills (procedural memory), such as mirror-drawing.

Question 7

What role does the hippocampus play in the Multi-Store Memory Model?

Answer 7

The hippocampus is crucial for transferring information from STM to LTM, as highlighted by H.M.’s inability to form new long-term memories after its removal

Question 8

How does H.M.’s case provide empirical support for the MSM?

Answer 8

H.M.’s case shows how different memory stores function independently and emphasizes the critical role of the hippocampus in memory consolidation, thus supporting the MSM.