KEY STUDY - Milner & Scoville (1957) – Case study of

Amnesia in Henry Moliason (HM)

Background:    
• H.M  first  fell  off  a  bicycle  at  9  years  old  resulting  in  brain  damage.    
• Epileptic  seizures  started  at  age  10    
• Major  seizures  happened  since  age  16  but  drugs  administered  failed  to  control  seizures    
• Invasive  surgery  was  attempted  as  a  last  resort  (to  save  his  life)  
 
Method:    
• Case  study,  Longitudinal  
• At  age  27  (1953)  H.M  had  brain  surgery  to  control  his  epilepsy  and  to  stop  seizures.    
• He  had  a  bilateral  medial  temporal  lobectomy.    
• They  removed  tissue  from  the  temporal  lobe,  including  the  hippocampus.    
• H.M.  was  studied  extensively  for  40  years  by  over  100  researchers  
• In  1997,  researchers  used  an  MRI  scan  to  study  structural  damage  in  high  detail  
 
Results:    
• After  the  operation,  HM  had  anterograde  amnesia  –  he  was  unable  to  create  new  memories    
• Nothing  could  be  stored  in  his  long-­‐term  memory  (LTM).    
• His  childhood  memories  were  intact    
• Memories  immediately  before  the  operation  were  lost.    
• His  working  memory  was  intact.    
• MRI  Scan  Results  (1997)  –  Brain  damage  was  pervasive  and  included  the  hippocampus,  the  amygdala,  and  other  
areas  close  to  the  hippocampus.    
 
Conclusion:    
• The  hippocampus  is  needed  for  memories  to  be  transferred  to  long-­‐term  memory.    
• Connection  of  study  to  question  -­‐  the  case  of  HM  reveals  the  interaction  of  cognition  (memory)  and  physiology  
(brain  damage  in  the  hippocampus)  in  amnesia.  
• Brain  damage  in  relevant  areas  (localization  of  function)  caused  memory  impairment  
• This  study  suggests  that  certain  brain  regions  are  responsible  for  the  cognitive  process  of  memory.    However,  the  
exact  impact  of  similar  brain  damage  to  people  may  vary  widely  (due  to  individual  differences  in  brain  structure,  
type  of  neural  networks/pathways  that  exist,  levels  of  brain  plasticity,  etc)    
 
Evaluation  of  Strengths:  
• Supports  interaction  of  cognition  and  physiology  in  Amnesia  
• Longitudinal  study  is  useful  for  generating  a  lot  of  relevant  “in-­‐depth”  data.  
• Different  studies  done  over  time  (interviews,  observations,  etc)  can  be  easily  compared  and  evaluated  as  they  come  
from  the  same  person  (triangulated)  
• Study  like  this  is  valuable  because  could  not  be  conducted  in  a  lab  (for  ethical  reasons)  
• Use  of  MRI  scans  of  his  brain  showed  great  detail    
 
Evaluation  of  Weaknesses  
• Small  sample  of  one  person  –  low  generalizability  to  entire  population  
• Cannot  be  generalized  with  high  confidence  to  all  brain  damage  patients  as  the  extent  of  the  damage  and  the  
impact  that  damage  has  on  each  individual  can  be  vary  widely.    
• Cannot  be  replicable  
• Very  rare  phenomena  
• Case  studies  may  be  influenced  by  researcher  interpretation  (researcher  bias,  self-­‐fulfilling  prophecy,  confirmation  
bias)    
• MRI  scans  can  be  inaccurate  due  to  slight  movements,  extent  of  damage  not  always  known  even  with  highly  
detailed  scans,  some  data  from  the  scans  can  be  over-­‐analyzed  (small  aberration  thought  to  be  overly  important