Phineas Gage Paper

In 1848, Phineas Gage was a 25 year old working man. An accident occurred to him at work one day which radically changed how the brain was viewed and known to function. He was helping to prepare the way for railroads to be put down when an explosion happened unexpectedly and it sent a 43 inch tamping iron into Phineas Gage’s head through his face, skull and brain. The tamping iron went all the way through and landed some ways off. The remarkable thing was that Gage became conscious within a matter of a few minutes after the incident. Not only did he wake up but he still had the ability to walk and to talk. Even though Gage survived his injuries he was no longer the same.

In the discussion of the human mind and how it actually works, there are a few distinct philosophical concepts that many believe to be an accurate diagnosis. Three of these views are Dualism, Physicalism, and Functionalism. They each portray a different view on how the mind functions in some cases physically or even mentally and separate from the actual human brain. perfect way to exam these approaches is to take an in depth look at the interesting case of Phineas Gage. Gage, born in 1823, was a railroad construction worker in the northeastern region of the United States. On September 13th in 1848, Gage was working on a railroad project in the state of Vermont and was filling a whole with explosive gunpowder and was packing the power in powder

3. What mental changes occurred in Phineas after the accident? Gage’s behavior became erratic and

The day of Phineas accident, he was performing his work duties on the construction of a railroad track. His duty was to set explosive charges in holes drilled into large pieces of rock so that they could be broken up and removed. He had to fill the holes with gunpowder, with a fuse, and then pack in sand with a large tamping iron. Because gage was distracted on September 13, 1948, he forgot to fill in one of the holes with sand. In result, when he went to pack down the

Imagine a situation where your entire personality is changed forever by an object that pierces an area of your brain. Those who have had a frontal lobotomy, whether purposefully or not, have had their personality changed permanently. An unlucky foreman of the Rutland Railroad, Phineas Gage, was on the receiving end of a tragic occurrence that severed the frontal lobe area of his prefrontal cortex. He underwent the experience of having a railroad spike pierce him beneath his left cheek and exit through his skull, consequently injuring an important area of his brain. This occurrence changed one part of Gage’s personality completely, though he seemed almost entirely functional after his accident. The one thing that changed in Gage was his ability to imagine the future. He lived completely present in the moment. The unique accident that affected Phineas Gage can be broken down with various different philosophical approaches to answer what is called the “mind-body problem”. The mind-body problem is composed of attempting to explain things like beliefs, consciousness, emotions, etc., in organisms. Physicalism, dualism, and functionalism all have their unique explanation for the mind-body problem’s implication of Phineas Gage’s accident.

The nineteenth century saw an explosion in knowledge regarding the brain unlike any before. For centuries, the brain had been considered the seat of human intelligence. However, the brain of the classics was a singular organ of

Dr. Jacob Mendez Da Costa, a physician during the Civil War, ran studies on many wounded Union soldiers. He discovered that they had rapid heart rates and high blood pressure combined with severe exhaustion and the ability to be easily startled. Though PTSD was yet a known disorder, it was clear that the men’s symptoms were caused because of the disturbing things they had seen and experienced in battle.(Thomas 10)

Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen. Psychology, the study of behavior and mind, serves an important role in everyone’s lives. Many people made great discoveries that changed the field of psychology forever, and those people deserve recognition for their groundbreaking findings. One psychologist who improved lives and made a major discovery is Dr. Michael Gazzaniga. For his achievements, he deserves a spot in the Psychology Hall of Fame. First of all, his research shows how the brain enables the mind and behavior. He is responsible, with the help of Roger Sperry, for initiating the human split-brain research where he cut the corpus callosum, the tissue connecting the two hemispheres of the brain. The left hemisphere deals with language and speech

When a traumatic brain injury happens to the frontal “zone”, it is striking the brain’s largest lobe. The frontal lobe is anterior to the left and right cerebral hemispheres, this lobe is in charge for conscious thinking, voluntary responses, and personality traits. When someone is trying to find the right word or phrase to say, it is this part of the brain he or she may rely on. Destruction to this crucial lobe can create destruction to a person’s brilliance, attention span, and organizational efficiency, as well as the failure of

In our lifetime we will hear unimaginable stories of people who survive the craziest circumstances. One that comes to mind is the story about 50 Cent being shot nine times, surviving, and then thriving in his music career afterward. Although 50 Cent’s dramatic situation is a bit different than the one I will be informing you about, it’s still an interesting survivor’s story. On the other hand, Phineas Gage’s injury surviving story is one that has gone down in the history books for a couple of different reasons. Phineas Gage’s incident differs from most survivor stories because Gage had a 3 foot, 8 inch long, 1.25 inch diameter iron rod, weighing almost 14 pounds, missile through a portion of his head

The Brain That Changes Itself is an informative and an educational book was written by Canadian Psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, writer, and researcher Norman Doidge, who delivers a dramatic change message about the plasticity of the brain; how the brain changes itself. "The Brain That Changes Itself" is a chain of excellent case studies of individuals who have undergone a brain deficit of some kind and examines different types of brain deficits from simple sensory; auditory and visual to complex deficits; missing brain regions. The book recounts neuroscientific advances on how neuroplasticity does not limit the individual to predefined neural limitations and that our way of thinking, as well as the activities that we perform every day,

c. One study showed a 37% reduction of the brain’s activity in the parietal lobe that processes cognitive, memory, information regarding the driving task, sense of direction and “spatial sense” as well as the occipital lobe that processes the visual information (Aker, 2011).

Part one of Oliver Sack’ book, “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat”, is about losses. The impairment or incapacity of neurological function of those who have loss or lack some of the functions of their brain. Neurological impairments that categorize with loss of functions are loss of vision, speech, language, memory, dexterity, and identity. Some of the diseases or dysfunctions that classify these impairments are Aphonia, Aphemia, Aphasia, Alexia, Apraxia, Agnosia, amnesia, and Ataxia (Sacks 3). It was Paul Broca in 1861 who began the study of the relationship between the brain and mind when a patient case had damaged to the left hemisphere of the brain resulting in aphasia, loss of speech. It was due to this to which it paved the way

This, I led me too a love of psychology. How wonderful was it that there was a whole science devoted just to that one mystical organ? Studying the brain, we can unlock the doors to human

In contrast, a technique favoured by cognitive neuropsychologists is neurological case studies. These are reports on individuals who have suffered damage to the nervous system. Researchers can observe the behaviour of participants and interpret how this has been affected by their brain injury. However, the conclusions that can be taken from such studies are also limited, especially when they involve a single subject, (Payne and Wenger, 1982).