The Strange Case of Phineas Gage
description
Transcript of The Strange Case of Phineas Gage
![Page 1: The Strange Case of Phineas Gage](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/5681657f550346895dd81669/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
The Strange Case of Phineas
Gage
an unexpected experiment in neurological function
![Page 2: The Strange Case of Phineas Gage](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/5681657f550346895dd81669/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
Phineas Gage
• Phineas Gage was working on blasting for a new rail line in Cavendish, Vermont -- mid 1800s
• he was putting dynamite into core drillings, using a tamping rod
• The tamping rod is made of iron, about 3 ft long, narrowed at one end
• accidentally, the dynamite charge blew up• this shot the tamping rod right through his skull
and out the other side
![Page 3: The Strange Case of Phineas Gage](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/5681657f550346895dd81669/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
![Page 4: The Strange Case of Phineas Gage](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/5681657f550346895dd81669/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
• note the “trap door” in the top of the skull
• this must have opened, and then snapped shut again, in order to allow the rod to pass through
• if the rod had been a few mm closer forward (anteriorly), it would have crushed his left eye
![Page 5: The Strange Case of Phineas Gage](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/5681657f550346895dd81669/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
• note the “trap door” in the top of the skull
• this must have opened, and then snapped shut again, in order to allow the rod to pass through
• if the rod had been a few mm closer forward (anteriorly), it would have crushed his left eye
• note also his skull must have opened and then reshut at the line indicated in red
![Page 6: The Strange Case of Phineas Gage](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/5681657f550346895dd81669/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
path sagittal• the rod probably went
between Phineas’s frontal lobe and his limbic system
• frontal lobe is responsible for higher-level thinking, reasoning, moral understanding, mathematical calculation, musical composition, etc.
![Page 7: The Strange Case of Phineas Gage](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/5681657f550346895dd81669/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
limbic system
• limbic system is responsible for generating emotions such as anger, drives to protect one’s children; hunger; thirst; passion
• usually the limbic system has connections to the frontal lobe• usually the frontal lobe can have some control over the emotions
generated in the limbic system
![Page 8: The Strange Case of Phineas Gage](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/5681657f550346895dd81669/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Brain Parts
![Page 9: The Strange Case of Phineas Gage](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/5681657f550346895dd81669/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
limbic system
![Page 10: The Strange Case of Phineas Gage](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/5681657f550346895dd81669/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Brain PartsCerebrum (cerebral cortex)
Hypothalamus
Pons
Medulla oblongata
Cerebellum
ventricle
![Page 11: The Strange Case of Phineas Gage](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/5681657f550346895dd81669/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
![Page 12: The Strange Case of Phineas Gage](https://reader035.fdocuments.in/reader035/viewer/2022062520/5681657f550346895dd81669/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)