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Phineas Cage

In: Philosophy and Psychology

Submitted By daunique
Words 718
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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 exiting the top and front of his skull. A large amount of brain tissue was expelled from the opening. After receiving treatment and care from Dr. John Martyn Harlow over the following weeks, Gage was able to recover sufficiently from his physical injuries and return to his family in nearby New Hampshire. However, reports of extreme personality changes indicate that he was unable to return to his previous job and caused co-workers to comment that he was ‘‘no longer Gage.’’ Following several years of taking manual labor jobs and travelling, he was reunited with his family in San Francisco whereupon Mr. Gage died on May 21, 1860, nearly 12 years after his injury – presumably due to the onset of seizures evidently originating from damage resulting from the tamping rod incident (Van Horn, Irima, Togerson, Chambers, Kikinis, & Toya, 2012).
Prior to Gage’s accident, he was a very proficient foreman and very capable of performing his job duties. Gage’s mind was well balanced; however, after the incident he was obstinate and a bit impatient. He was also very disturbed and disrespectful, showing little respect towards his co-workers (Van Horn, Irima, Togerson, Chambers, Kikinis, & Toya, 2012).
Analysis into the cognitive functions and the brain was needed in order to understand why Cage’s behavior changed. Before one understands how Gage’s accident support cognitive function, one must first have a clear understanding what cognition means. Cognition basically refers to brain functions that are high-leveled, such as the ability to problem solve, focus, organize and to essentially be able to speak and accurately identify the environment that one is in (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). A common effect of frontal lobe damage can cause a remarkable change in one’s behavior socially. An individual’s personality can significantly alter after damage to the frontal lobes (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). Gage’s accident showed researchers that not all brain injury incidents will result in death and not every injury will result in a major loss to all the functions in the brain. This case had confirmed findings that any damage to one’s frontal cortex could very well result in someone having a significant personality change and this is while other cognitive functions are not altered. The case involving Phineas Gage is one of the very first cases that provide significant evidence that a person’s frontal cortex is involved in one’s personality. “The case of Phineas Gage is among the most famous and infamous in the history of brain science” (Van Horn, Irima, Togerson, Chambers, Kikinis, & Toya, 2012).

Works Cited

Kowalski, R., & Westen, D. (2011). Psychology (6th ed.). John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Van Horn, J., Irimia, A., Torgerson, C. M., Chambers, M. C., Kikinis, R., & Toga, A. W. (2012). Mapping Connectivity Damage in the Case of Phineas Gage. Plos ONE, 7(5), 1-24. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0037454
Willingham, D. T. (2007). Cognition: The Thinking Animal (3rd ed.). Pearso/Allyn & Bacon.

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