Henry Molaison. The case of H. M. the advance neuro greatest scientist was an accident.

9 Jul 2023
SimpleMind Science
Henry Molaison, like a bad surgery causes that a young man can only remember the last day you lived. Real story of the case of H. M. This young man marked a before and after in neuroscience, neurology and many scientific branches. Your input is invaluable.
Imagen a color de Henry Molaison, 1926-2008

The story of Henry Molaison. The case of H. M.

The story of Henry Molaison, or H. M. seems a perfect story to make a film, a young man suffers an accident and loses the ability to remember what happened the previous day, and just living the same day as always. Similar to the film Memento, also known as Amnesia, Christopher Nolan launched in 2000 (very good, 92% approval by the critics).

Como si fuera la primera vez

called by Latin america “As if it were the first time” or “50 first dates” in Spain (strangely in Spain has a correct title) directed by Peter Segal where they act Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore (very nice movie, recommended, but criticizes split 50/50).

Like in the movie Memento both are very good depending on the taste of each one (logical) inspired by the amnesia, very similar to that in real life he suffered this young man. Then, I will tell you the true story, who he was and that happened in the case of H. M.

Life and death of Henry Gustav Molaison, the case of H. M.

Henry Gustav Molaison he was born on February 26, 1926 in Hartford, and died on December 2, 2008. Suffered from an intractable epilepsy during all his life attributed to an accident while riding his bicycle in the year 1935, he was only 9 years (this accident is just a theory that had never been able to verify).

From this accident Molaison begins to suffer a crisis of seizure  (described as epileptic) which were partial and since she was about 16 years began with uncontrolled seizures (tonic-clonic) that seriously affected his life throughout his youth.

It was unable to develop activities since the crisis sporadic seizures were random, at any time and I could not be alone ever.

Henry Molaison con 60 años

Henry Molaison is about to turn 60 years (1986) and sitting in the office of Clinical Research Central Massachusetts Institute of Technology. What are interviewing. However, you cannot answer any questions about the world around them because their memories were frozen in 1953 when he was only 27 years old.

The operation that would solve their seizures.

 
In 1953, he was called by the Hartford Hospital to be part of a pilot operation. Dr. William Beecher Scoville, a neurosurgeon (in this link you will find a publication with all the achievements of Dr. Scoville a giant figure in the history of neurosurgery), had studied your case and identified that the source of epilepsy and seizures to be tonic-clonic seizures probably the damage is to be located in the medial temporal lobes, left and right, suggested that the possible solution might be a surgical removal of the bilateral medial temporal lobe as a measure of treatment.

In 1953, Henry describes (according to the interviewers), “if there is a small possibility of improving your condition does not think twice”the reason that he along with his family accepted the risk.

Dr. William Beecher Scoville quien intervino a Henry Molaison, fuente desconocida

This form is subjected to the complex pilot operation in which the neurosurgeon William Beecher did a lobectomy (lobotomy is the destruction of the nerve pathways without resection, and lobectomy when there is removal).

Henry Molaison without seizures but now with what amnesia?

 
Despite the great risk that the surgery had the expected result: seizures and convulsions disappeared, intervention, however, destroyed the greater part of their structures.

Zonas extirpadas en el caso HM

These injuries caused him as an acquisition of anterograde amnesia where was unable to stay in the presentafter various tests and examinations it was concluded that the damage had only affected the long-term memory (remember what you did yesterday or 2 years ago) being able to incorporate new information of his life, while his working memory and procedural memory were intact.

Dr. William Beecher in the operation that removed part of his brain that caused the crisis. Specifically I extirpate two-thirds of his hippocampus, gyrus hippocampal and amygdala.

This resulted in their hippocampus as non-functional, the 2 cm remaining were atrophied and in addition, all the entorhinal cortex (main center of communication with the hippocampus) it had been destroyed with the operation.

Zonas del hipocampo afectadas e caso H.M.

Confirmed Henry Molaison suffers from anterograde amnesia.

 

The anterograde amnesia Henry was a devastating experience for him and his family, had been cured of the crisis, but no longer remembered anything. On the contrary, to the scientific world, and especially to the area of the neurosciences changed the entire knowledge about how it worked the memory. 

Henry was not able to incorporate new information in your long-term memory, he could not remember the events of two years prior to the surgery, and he could not remember the events of eleven years before, but if I can acquire new motor skills, information that I forgot and had learned.

For example, it taught him to drive a car, but the next day he did not remember that he had been taught and that I already knew how to drive a car, the scientists taught him again several days in a row, he was driving without a need to look at the changes or the pedals, but I did not remember that he had been taught and everything that I already knew lead to the perfection.

Henry Molaison viviendo con normalidad y feliz (fuente desconocida)

Henry was always smiling, said to be well and happy. How his family opened their doors to the science to investigate and help other people not go through the same thing, why he's always impressed the scientists, it was very collaborative.

The scientific world never neglect to Henry Molaison.

 

Brenda Milner (to 2022 has 104 years) known by many as “the founder of neuropsychology” accompany you for many years, the case of H. M. (Henry Molaison) she describes that for Henry, it wasn't important what was happening in her brain as though all could live peacefully and happy, he could see all the days the same film, and impressed with his final, every day was something new and a new challenge, I could tell you a story hundreds of times and not be worried about getting bored because it was something new and cool.

Fotografía del legado de Henry Molaison (1926–2008) y el impacto de su cirugía

The first time speaks of the case of H. M. in a scientific article was in the year 1957, published in the journal “J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiat” by William Scoville and Brenda Milner called “Loss of recent memory after bilateral hippocampal injury” (if you want to review, this is the link). You use the pseudonym H. M., to protect his identity until the day of his death.

The end of the case H. M. and the death of the one he always wanted to help, the last gift of Henry Molaison.

Henry Molaison dies from a lung disease the December 2, 2008 at the age of 82. Before I die, Molaison could solve crossword puzzles, to answer questions, referring to knowledge that occurred before 1953, for the information back to 1953 could incorporate new information for you always, and when associated in some way with earliest memories.

Laboratorio de la Universidad de California mostrando el Cerebro de Henry Molaison (fuente desconocida)

Henry Gustav Molaison case H. M. gave the neuroscience a precious gift that was worth a lot to all the scientists of the time, people that he and his family felt as they helped him always and unconditionally. The donated her brain to stay in school when he died.

Live streaming for the world's scientific analysis of brain post-mortem.

The Observatory of the Brain of the University of San Diego in 2009, performed the dissection of the brain of Henry, which was also broadcast live on obtaining 2401 sections delivering a microscopic imaging at cellular resolution whole brain. What that allowed us to identify two parts completely damaged and 16 areas with some structural damage of synapses. In 2014, we created a three-dimensional map of the brain of Henry that are available to all scientists around the world interested in studying your case. This map provides information on the structures, functions and motor skills, cognitive, memory, and other information that is kept constantly updated.

Encéfalo de Henry Molaison mientras es diseccionado por un microtomo de congelación especial (fuente desconocida)

To Jacopo Annese director of the Observatory of the Brain (Dr. Annese always speak clearly, not presumed, jokes and smiles. Is a scientist out of the ordinary, say those who listen to him speak for the first time in their projects) in their publication explains that it was a great advancement and privilege to be able to accomplish this milestone, and that this latest research reveals that it is not yet possible to study the brain in its entirety without the use of techniques post-mortem (after death). Leaving many doubts of the real time performance of these structures, how to communicate and work with an injury.

Personal opinion in the case of H. M.

To SimpleMenteCiencia and for me as a humble researcher, I love this case, the unconditional love of many scientists towards Mr. Henry Gustav Molaison is awesome everything that happened, was cared for until death, tried to amend the error committed at the level of scientists towards a girl, despite the fact that this was all voluntary.

One of the scientists that most touched my kokoro (heart or feeling in japanese) was Ms. Brenda Milner, the day that he died, Henry Molaison published all the life they spent together in a way so beautiful and thanking him for all the years they spent together, he says verbatim:

Henry Molaison 1926-2008 a color

It was a man, very gentle, very patient and always very willing to perform the tasks that you will let him, although each time I got up to walk around the room, he looked at me as if I never had seen,

he explains that the case of H. M. was the most valuable in that it could work and that the scientific world has a debt to Henry Molaison that still has not been able to pay, and that we must repay researching, publishing and improving what we already know so that other people can heal.

This is a publication from 2015 that you might like to complement all the writing.

Conclusions.

Something very interesting that we can conclude from this case (there are many), the information motor does not pass through the hippocampus is therefore not necessary to memorize (how to work the brain of Marilyn Vos Sabant!), but that live acts or motor experiences in order to learn (the example of driving a car), then we can draw some conclusions (What do you think?):

 

  • We now know that a motor act such as you jump, ride a bike, kick a ball, etc, must Be made to learn it and improve it, if it is observed only ever the brain learn.
  • Knowing in a general way how memory works, it would not be better to memorize information while performing a physical activity to which the information accompanying the motor act, what will happen in a more efficient way to the cerebral cortex?, What do you think?
  • If someone lives a traumatic event such as rape, death of a being, accident, etc, Knowing this information about the functioning of the memory and inquiring in other publications, the right thing would be not to sleep (this is where the information through the REM sleep passed to the cortex) and the collapse of the hippocampus with more new information to start to delete old memories lived in the day and try to ensure that the person spends a lot of time without sleeping, so this information is consolidated. This will definitely help to that traumatic experience is not for a lifetime as a memento. Do not put the person to sleep and rest, that would be the worst mistake.

I could keep typing, but for that bore you, these are some things that we can conclude and the purpose of this is to teach easily for this reason I try to explain the most simple of all, come, that's why the page is called SimpleMenteCiencia.

Hello, it was a pleasure!

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