HM case study - cognitive

• What was the aim of patient HMs case study

  To investigate the extent and nature of HMs memory deficits and how they relate to his brain damage structurally
• What was the procedure of HMs study

  Researches conducted lots of tests with HM to determine what we could/couldn't do
• Examples of the tests HM was given

  Mirror tasks, playing video games, solving puzzles, remembering numbers
• Result of these tests

  . HMs LTM was repeatedly tested but never improved

  . He did well on tests to do with STM
• Example of how HMs memory was affected

  Could remember digits after rehearsing them - STM working

  But couldn't remember the name of the doctor - LTM affected badly
• How did the study support the MSM

  . It shows the LTM and STM are two separate stores
• Generability


  . Weakness

  . Difficult to generalise to other individuals with brain damage - HMs case is unique to himself and every case is different
• Reliability


  . Is reliable - standardised methods used

  . Is not - can't repeat as HMs brain damage is unique and can't be ethically replicated
• Application


  Helpful to society as there was a better understanding of the parts of the brain in relation to memory
• Validity


  . Valid due to lots of qualitative info was gathered on HM = greater depth of understanding = increased internal validity

  . CA = biographical info may not be valid and subject to errors in recall
• Ethics


  . Confidentiality kept

  . Didn't give informed consent

  . Was subjected to lots of testing and not protected from harm