HM- case study

• HM- Henry Molaison

  • Focus of a case study lasting 55 years
  • Had a bike accident as a child which led to him experiencing severe epilepsy.
  • Surgeon recommended surgery to help control seizures.
• Surgery

  • Had surgery at the age of 26 (1953)
  • Medial temporal lobe on each side was removed which included the hippocampus in an attempt to treat his severe epilepsy.
• After surgery

  • Had amnesia and was unable to form any new LTM, although still had procedural skills and could learn new skills.
  • Could use working memory but not to move material into his LTM, so he lived in the present.
• After surgery

  • Believed to be due to the removal of the MTL which caused these memory difficulties.
  • Within the MTL is the hippocampus which is thought to relate to STM and moving info into LTM.
  • Helped to provide evidence for how memory works in the brain.
• Which parts of HM's memory were unaffected?

  • Researchers talked to him about his episodic memories (personal) and he could recall the details of the several events.
  • Researchers could discuss his procedural skills as well as his LTM which were restricted to 11 years before his surgery.
• Evalutation


  All the same evaluation points as case studies just applied