![]() ![]() He discusses his findings, as described in the new book, Patient H.M.: A Story of Memory, Madness, and Family Secrets. Dittrich also happens to be Scoville’s grandson. ![]() Soon after, journalist Luke Dittrich started examining the details of H.M.’s life as a patient, research subject, and man, and how his story fit into the era of lobotomies and other highly experimental human brain surgeries. became one of the most famous cases in the field for his contributions to our understanding of memory.Īfter Molaison passed away, his brain was thinly sliced and digitized by a team at UC San Diego to be further studied. Until his death in 2008, neuroscientists conducted study after study to determine the extent of the damage, and Patient H.M. Yet, somehow, he was still able to learn new skills. The surgery left Molaison a persistent amnesiac, unable to form new memories. In 1953, surgeon William Beecher Scoville had performed an experimental surgery to cure Molaison’s epilepsy, removing, among other things, a large part of his hippocampus and surrounding structures. For decades, Henry Molaison was known to the world only as “Patient H.M.,” the man who could not form new memories. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |