The Buzz: Famous Case Study Subject Dies

The subject of one of the most famous case studies in cognitive psychology died Tuesday of heart failure. Referenced by the initials "H.M.," Henry Molaison was known for losing his episodic memory as the result of an operation during which neurosurgeons removed parts of his medial and temporal lobes in attempt to curb his epilepsy. "H.M. is the basis for nearly everything we now know today about the neural basis of memory," said ScienceBlogger Shelley Batts from Of Two Minds.

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Patient H.M. just died: In 1953, he underwent an experimental brain operation in Hartford to correct a seizure disorder, only to emerge from it fundamentally and irreparably changed. He developed a syndrome neurologists call profound amnesia. He had lost the ability to form new memories. For the…
The single most famous case study in the history of neuropsychology is that of an anonymous memory-impaired man usually referred to only by the initials H.M. This patient has one of the most severe cases of amnesia ever observed; he has been followed for over 40 years by more than 100 researchers,…
Everyone who's ever taken a Neuroscience class in college remembers the strange case of H.M. H.M. suffered from epilepsy. Back in 1953, his brain was operated on - some large chunks (the hippocampi) were removed. Epilepsy was gone. So was his memory. He could remember his life before surgery,…
The amnesic patient known as H.M., who is the best known case study in neuropsychology, has died, at the age of 82. H.M., whose full name has now been revealed as Henry Gustav Molaison, lost completely the ability to form new memories following a radical surgical procedure to treat his severe and…