[Link] “H.M.” – the man who had part of his brain removed and changed neuroscience forever
Apr 10, 2013
I generally think we're light years from having non-scary Medical Science (and we've come so far) but Neuroscience has too be amongst the scariest of them all during experimental stages
The year was 1953 and, anatomical neuroscience still in its infancy (Egas Moniz had been awarded the Nobel Prize for inventing lobotomy just four years earlier), the treatment decided upon was to remove large parts of Molaison’s brain where the seizures occurred. Dr. Scoville ended up removing most of the anterior temporal lobe which included the hippocampus, the brain’s memory center, from both sides of Molaison’s brain. The procedure that Dr. Scoville called a “frankly experimental operation” worked – the seizures all but stopped. Molaison, however, would never be the same.
The year was 1953 and, anatomical neuroscience still in its infancy (Egas Moniz had been awarded the Nobel Prize for inventing lobotomy just four years earlier), the treatment decided upon was to remove large parts of Molaison’s brain where the seizures occurred. Dr. Scoville ended up removing most of the anterior temporal lobe which included the hippocampus, the brain’s memory center, from both sides of Molaison’s brain. The procedure that Dr. Scoville called a “frankly experimental operation” worked – the seizures all but stopped. Molaison, however, would never be the same.