miércoles, 22 de septiembre de 2010

Phineas Gage

Phineas Gage was the head of crew that worked on a railroad construction in Vermont. It was on September 13 of 1848 that Gage had a dreadful accident consisting of a 13 pound iron rod passing below his left cheekbone and into his head during an outburst of charged explosives that damage a big portion of his front lobe. Unbelievably, he was conscious right after the accident and fortunately, he survived the tragic explosion. He ended up being blind from his left eye but he was verbally and physically active. Though, his behavior was different than before. He was rude and intolerant with the people around him. During the 13 years he lived after his death, he worked as a freak in an exhibition where he was paid to show his face and the rod. Sadly, Gage died from epileptic seizures in 1860.Phineas Gage’s case was helpful to neurologists to study personality as part of psychology and for the first operation of 1885 of tumor removal. In class, we discussed Phineas Gage’s accident and a House episode related to Gage amazing story. We learned that people can survive serious brain damage. Also we discussed what brain localization is. Brain localization is in simpler words where different parts of the brains are located. Each located part carries out an important function that helps our body work correctly. For example, a part of our brain includes function like auditory, vision, movements, etc. These parts may be located in two different brain hemispheres that are separated along a longitudinal fissure. This is called: brain lateralization.

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