...Phineas Gage: First Research Patient Lizzi Chapman The Accident On September 13, 1848, at around 4:30 p.m., a railroad foremen named Phineas Gage (July 9, 1823-May 21, 1860) filled a drill hole with gunpowder and turned his head to check on his men… The Rutland and Burlington Railroad had hired Gage’s crew that fall to clear away some tough black rock near Cavendish, Vermont. They considered Gage’s crew to be one of the best around. Among other tasks, a foreman sprinkled gunpowder into blasting holes, and then tamped the powder down, gently, with an iron rod. This completed, an assistant poured in sand or clay, which got tamped down hard to confine the bang to a tiny space. Gage had specially commissioned his tamping iron from a blacksmith. Sleek like a javelin, it weighed 13¼ pounds and stretched 3 feet 7 inches long. (Gage stood 5 feet 6 inches.) At its widest, the rod had a diameter of 1¼ inch, although the last foot—the part Gage held near his head when tamping—was tapered to a point. This next part has some different variations. Gage’s crewmembers were loading some busted rock onto a cart, and they apparently distracted him. One says Gage...
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...Phineas Cage Paper Daunique Irvin Psych 360 3/21/2013 Dr. Gayle Ball-Parker “The cognitive perspective focuses on the way people perceive, process, and retrieve information” (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). Cognitive psychologists are interested in how memory functions, how people solve problems and make decisions, and similar questions. Cognitive function would include any and all characteristics of an individual ’s perception, such as, sensing, reasoning, conception, imagining and remembering (Willingham, 2007). Different areas of the brain serve different cognitive functions. The thalamus is a relay station for sensory and motor information. For all senses except smell, the receptors first send information to the thalamus, which passes it on to the cortex. The Amygdala is believed to be important in the processing of emotion and probably information about social functions. Hippocampus is important in memory. The cerebellum is important in motor control (Willingham, 2007). Phineas Gage worked on a railroad and had an accident on September 13, 1848 where an explosion caused an iron from the railroad to penetrate straight through the frontal part and on the left region of 25 year old, Phineas Gage’s head (Van Horn, Irima, Togerson, Chambers, Kikinis, & Toya, 2012). A iron rod shot upwards, through the left cheek of Gage, passing behind his left eyeball, piercing his cranial vault under the left basal forebrain, passing through his brain, and then...
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...In 1848 – thanks to an unusual, grisly accident that befell a good-natured, popular railroad foreman named Phineas Gage – scientists discovered that specific areas of your brain control how you get along with people. When Gage was laying railroad tracks, his assistant got distracted and didn’t take the usual safety measures, thus causing a freak accident – an explosion of gunpowder that blew a heavy, long iron rod through Gage’s forehead. Although he survived, the flying rod removed the front portion of his brain, and Gage lost the ability to moderate his temper or impulses. Though he could still do calculations and function in his job, his life changed dramatically for the worse. Now cranky and erratic, he lashed out at the mildest provocation, appeared irrationally unable to get a grip on his emotions and no longer got along well with his co-workers. As science now knows, the ability to manage your emotions requires effective biological “wiring” between the reasoning and feeling areas of the brain, and Gage had lost that link. People are emotional creatures, so always be mindful of the role emotions play in your behavior and that of others. For example, a medical technician named Lily used her emotional intelligence (EQ) to achieve her goals. Stuck in her biotechnology job, and frustrated by the routine and lack of challenge, she got a new job running a start-up drug development laboratory. After a year or so, she felt worn down and again stuck in a rut. She ...
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...1.) Phineas Gage was a young man who at the age of twenty-five had his life changed. He was working on the railroad putting explosives down a hole when the rod he used accidently caused the powder to discharge. The resulting effect caused the three-foot rod to enter Phineas’ cheek and exit through the top of his skull. Now, he lost sight in his left eye and is said to have been able to joke around with the doctor to see him after the incident occurred. The next thing that makes Phineas’ case so unique and put him launched him into history is the documentation of the months following his accident by Doctor John Martyn Harlow. The documents show that Phineas was the first patient to show a link between a brain injury to the frontal lobes and...
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...Phineas Gage had a brain injury that allowed other researchers to learn more about the human brain and what regions affect behavior in humans. Mr. Gage was working as a foreman for a railroad when a rod when through his brain. Before his accident, Mr. Gage was “intelligent, well-balanced…modest and reliable” (Ellis, n.d.) This seems to be true because he was a man in authority, he was a foreman in charge of several men. Women seemed interested in him, at the beginning of the video, Frontal Lobes and Behavior- The Story of Phineas Gage, he was having a tussle with Benjamin over a woman. Phineas Gage’s life seemed normal and he was quite dependable. After his accident, Phineas Gage showed his emotions (justifiable or not) openly. He appeared to have mood swings, and an inability to master his sentiments. According to Carlson (2014), Mr. Gage was immature, unbalanced, reckless, and inconsiderate (p. 251). Phineas laughed a lot, cried and whimpered, and had fits of rage, all usually occurring at inappropriate times....
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...In 1848, Phineas Gage was working on the railroad. He was tapping explosives powder in a hole with a steel pole, which caused the pole to shoot back at him like a bullet. The pole shot straight through his left cheek and exited through the top of his head. He remained conscious throughout the entire accident and even had the ability to walk and explain what happened to him. The doctor he went to did not believe that a rod had shot completely through his head, that is until Gage sneezed and a chunk of his brain flew out. Gage also happened to contract a fungal infection that had to be drained through his nose. Despite all of this he fully recovered from his injury and was still able to walk and talk as he did before. However, His family and...
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...Phineas Gage Paper Stacy M Fender psy/360 July 14 2014 Brenda Edmons Phineas Gage Paper September 13, 18348 a man by the name of Phineas Gage was in a terrible railway construction accident. Phineas was in the town of Cavendish in the state of Vermont; he was tampering iron; these are around three feet long. Buy the chance the iron was fired, and it went through his head, after a CT scan which was cutting edge technology in its time, this showed the iron had gone through his cranium, destruction of his left frontal lobe. Even though he had a painful mishap, Phineas Gage made a remarkable improvement; he was alive for 12 years. He moved to San Francisco, and on the date of May 21, 1860 he died of epilepsy difficulties. The brain has been studied for many years by researchers trying to find the role cognitive functions play in the brain. Phineas was given the diagnosis of traumatic brain injury also known as TBI; this gives comprehension of how TBI's shape cognitive functions. It’s unfortunate that Phineas went through his tragic accident, but it did help researchers find the crucial knowledge of the brain and the areas that show proof of cognitive functions and how traumatic brain injury (TBI) happens. A person's cognitive abilities can foresee functional aftermath after a TBI (traumatic brain injury). The degree of concurrent rational abilities influences the significance of the functional renewal. The changes of a person's social, emotional, and behavioral functioning...
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...Phineas Gage Paper At the age of 25 Phineas Gage was a bright, promising foreman working for the Rutland and Burlington railroad in Cavendish, Vermont. As was the practice of the times, tamping powder was used to blast drill holes for the preparation of laying track (Wickens, 2005). Gage was using a tamping rod to compact the powder in the holes before detonation when suddenly a precipitous explosion propelled the rod, which was 1.1 meters long, 6 millimeters thick, and weighing 6 kilograms, through his left cheek and brain, exiting out the vault of his skull (Leach & O'Driscoll, 1998). Surprisingly, Gage remained conscious on the ride to the doctor. Once there, Dr. Harlow, the attending physician, bandaged his wounds, which bled for an additional 2 days. Gage showed no obvious, immediate mental deficits, but an aggressive viral infection set in at the damaged area which led to a month of semiconscious recovery. The infection finally abated and Gage made a complete recovery, except for blindness in his left eye and weakness in the left side of his face. However, upon returning to work it became quite clear that Mr. Gage was not entirely himself. The damage to Gage’s brain was localized in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex; nevertheless, in order to understand the personality changes that Gage underwent after his recovery it is necessary to first examine the underlying neurological and cognitive interplay thereof. Cognition and Neurology of Consequence Prediction The somatic-marker...
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...Phineas Gage Paper Cognitive Functions Cognitive functions are the encompassed reasoning, memory, attention, and language that lead directly to the attainment of information humans attain daily. We use cognitive functions daily from the time we wake up and become aware of not only that we have woken up but also if it is light outside or dark, the time it is, and also we perceive what needs to happen next such as if we should begin our day or if we should continue to sleep. The role of the brain in cognitive functions is to allow us to work with information, apply the information, and perform any tasks need to be done using the information we have acquired. Without our cognitive functions, we would not be able to make decisions, or remember any information that we would need to function in normal daily life. Cognitive functions derive from what we store as memory and experience daily, as well as the ability to transfer what we learn from one experience to another situation. But what would happen if we suddenly lost part of our cognitive functons? Phineas Gage Phineas P. Gage was a 25 year old man that was impaled though this skull with an iron bar while working on a railroad in September 13, 1848. Phineas had just drilled a hole into a rock face to set some blasting powder. However, Phineas missed a step in the positioning of the blasting powder and as the tamping iron struck the rock a spark ignited the blasting powder sending the tamping iron, sharp end first...
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...Phineas Gage Paper The brain is one of the key role players in cognitive functioning. There are many different areas in the brain but only a few certain areas have an influence on cognitive functioning. A man named Phineas Gage showed the key elements in the specific areas in the brain that do support these cognitive functions. In 1848 Phineas gage suffered a traumatic brain injury which has aided in understanding the human brain in the fields of cognitive and neuropsychologists. This paper will help to better explain the role of cognitive functioning and the brain. One will better understand the importance of Phineas Gage’s injuries and how they have helped to aid cognitive functioning and neuropsychology. The Brain and Cognitive Functioning The brain plays and important role in cognitive functioning. The ability to process thoughts and information is cognitive functioning (Willingham, 2007). Learning, memory, and perception are all examples of cognitive functioning (Willingham, 2007). Different areas of the brain support different cognitive functions. The amygdala, hippocampus, and the rhinal cortex are all responsible for memory. Emotional memory and memories which are prompted by emotional behavior are all stored in the amygdala. The hippocampus is responsible for receiving information from the senses and then translating them into an individual’s short-term memory. Learned information is recalled from the rhinal cortex. “The cerebral cortex is what is studied, photographed...
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...Phineas Gage Paper The Brain an amazing structure it is designed to multitask on a continual basis. The human brain weighting three pounds, and having the ability to give life as well as learn and move throughout life is amazing. Each part of the brain controls specific actions. Understanding, and recognize where the actions are coming from will give understanding on how the human mind works and understanding how we learn. ( WEBSITE) Cognitive Brain functions Cognitive functions can consist of problem solving, speaking, and learning as well as retaining memory and expressing and feeling emotions. Cognitive functions originate in the part of the brain called cerebrum also known as the cerebral cortex this takes up majority of the brains mass. The cerebral cortex is made up of four lobes which consist of frontal lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, and the occipital lobe. Each lobe has a task and serves a cognitive function to the brain. Some task such as speaking and learning require coordinated processing from multiple areas of the cerebrum (Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/about_5386858_normal-brain-functions.html). Frontal lobe This lobe can be found in the front of the brain, and this is the center for emotions and personality. Motor speech and behavior and critical thinking are centered in the frontal lobe. Problem solving, reasoning, planning, memory, language, judgment control of impulses, and social and sexual behavior as well are managed by frontal lobe (Retrieved...
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...Cognitive Functions and Phineas Gage The discussion of this paper is the role of cognitive brain functions and Phineas Gage. The amazing story of Phineas Gage will be analyzed and the explanation of cognitive functioning in regard to his situation is very interesting and is also a major topic in this paper. Cognitive brain functions will be thoroughly examined in this paper as well. Cognitive functioning is when an individual has the ability to use mental processes to learn, reason, problem solve, make decisions, and comprehend. It also helps in focusing your attention and remembering events. Without cognitive processing humans would not be able to function properly. We use these processes to eat, sleep, work, go to school, plan events, and teach. Our daily functions such as cooking, eating, completing hygiene, cleaning, washing clothes, and other life skills heavily depend on cognitive functioning. What are the cognitive functions of the brain? To answer this question we must first examine what the brain is made of and what structures in the brain create a variety of cognitions. The brain has a set of structures called the limbic system. This system is made up of the cerebrum, diencephalon, midbrain, hippocampus, amygdalae, anterior thalamic nuclei, septum, limbic cortex, and the fornix. This system helps with the functions of emotion, behavior, motivation, and long term memory. The four lobes of the brain are important for the brain’s cognitive functioning. The four lobes...
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...Phineas Gage and the Cognitive Function The introduction of this paper includes Phineas Gage and the position of cognitive brain functions. The narrative of Phineas Gage can be and will be examined and the clarification of cognitive functioning in regard to his condition is vital and is part the main topic of this paper. The cognitive brain functions are examined in this paper as well. Cognitive function is when a person uses his or her mental processes to educate, find purpose, find solutions, find choices, and comprehend to then understand. When you can bring your attention to remembering events you’re more likely to focus. In lacking cognitive processing we, as humans would not be able to properly function. We use these daily processes to tackle life events, work, home, and all other task that tie into cognitive process but we must first scrutinize what the brain is made of, its structures, and the ability to see the brain create a variety of cognitions. The brain has created a set of structures named the limbic system. The structure is made up of the cerebrum, hippocampus, diencephalon, midbrain, anterior thalamic nuclei, amygdalae, septum, limbic cortex, and the fornix. This structure or system assists in the functions of behavior, inspiration, and memory. The brain’s cognitive function is tied to four lobes of the brain, which are very vital. The cognitive processing remains in the cortex of the brain. In order to understand the correlation of the brain and its functionality...
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...Phineas Gage Wilson PSY 360 10/15/14 Robert Goodnight Phinea's Gage Paper From past to present the study of psychology has lead researcher's to uncover scientifically based studies about human brain power that can manipulate numerous functions related to cognition. The human brain is responsible for memory, perception, learning, and emotions that contribute to how information is gathered; in addition, environmental factors can determine how information is recorded and utilized. The brain is a huge operating system of which human cognitive skills and abilities depend on proper brain functioning that regulate particular biological processes. Cerebral Cortex The Cerebral Cortex is a region of the brain predominantly responsible for identifying human language; environmental perception and methods of which the brain will process information retrieved. The cerebral cortex is divided into a right and left hemisphere that contains four lobes; parietal, frontal, occipital and temporal. Within the cerebral cortex each lobe controls a particular bodily function that allows us to see, hear, smell, and touch. The executive functioning happens within the frontal lobe which controls human thinking and the method of which we reason and make judgments. "The frontal lobe is susceptible to injury because of the position inside of the skull. This area of the brain is responsible for motor function, solving problems, socialization, and impulse...
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...Project 2.1.3: Map-A-Brain | Name: Lauren Caplinger Date: Block: Introduction---highlight important info The brain is a truly amazing organ. But while there is a good deal we know about the way it functions, there is still much that is unknown. Neuroscientists have the daunting task of trying to decipher how this one structure can control every aspect of our lives. Over the years, scientists have worked tirelessly to uncover the mystery of the human brain. They have studied the external features of the head, the internal structures of the brain and the effect of injuries on this organ to understand how this one organ is able to control the functioning of every human system. In this activity, you will explore the case of Phineas Gage, a young man who, in the 1800’s, suffered a horrific brain injury and simply walked away. He recovered and went on to live many more years, but his friends and co-workers said he was never the same. Physical wounds healed, but internal damage changed the personality of the man they all knew. His case will introduce you to the way our brain works and to the way in which specific areas of the brain control different parts of our personality and our ability to function. You will also explore the history of mapping the function of the human brain, from early methods based purely on observation to current methods using high-tech scans and measurements. In Activity 2.1.2, you built a brain on your Maniken® and explored the primary functions...
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