The Brain
“The Real Health Group” 2
Victorica Rosby
Monica Hernandez
Bria MarriLyn Monroe
Emmanuel Villanueva
University of California, Merced
Opening discussion question
• Scenario of the future where brain-to-body transplants
are possible: Bria attempted to commit suicide by
laying on the train tracks but the train only ran over her
body, leaving her head intact. Paramedics rush to save
her and transplant her brain into a new body.
• Second scenario of the future where brain to body
transplants are possible: Emmanuel attempted to
commit suicide by laying on the train tracks but the
train only ran over his head (brain), leaving his body
intact. Paramedics rush to save him, and transplant a
brain into his intact body.
Topic Map
Dualism
• Descartes says dualism-mind and body are
separate and do not interact
Antonio R. Damasio
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Dr. Antonio Damasio graduated from of the University of Lisbon Medical School
He is a member of the Institute of Medicine, of the National Academy of
Sciences; Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; a member of the
Neurosciences Research Program; a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology; a
member of the American Neurological Association, and of the Association of
American Physicians.
He received many scientific prizes
Dr. Antonio Damasio, the Van Allen Professor and Head of Neurology at the University
of Iowa, and Adjunct Professor at the Salk Institute,
He had a major influence on our understanding of the neural basis of decisionmaking, emotion, language and memory, decision-making and consciousness.
His book Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain (1994) is taught in
many universities worldwide.
Damásio's books deal with the relationship between emotions and feelings, and what
their brain substrates.
His 1994 book, Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason and the Human Brain, won the
Science et Vie prize, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award, and is
translated in over 30 languages.
Pop Quiz!
• What is dualism?
Summary of From Descartes’ Error
• From Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the
Human Brain by Antonio R. Demasio
• Case study of Phineas Gage
– Man who had an accident with a metal rod that traversed
the prefrontal cortex
• Prior to injury behavior: Gage was a normal, attentive, wellbehaved, man
• Post to injury conduct: Gage could not plan, stay focused, engaged
in foul language, hesitant and poor decision-making,
• In gage’s case the impaired character was dissociated
from the otherwise intact cognition and behavior. (p.
65)
Quiz
• True or False: Did Phineas Gage go to Chile
and San Francisco?
Oliver Sacks
• Oliver Sacks was born in 1933 in London, England into a family of
physicians and scientists (his mother was a surgeon and his father a
general practitioner).
• He earned his medical degree at Oxford University
• Since 1965, he has lived in New York, where he practicies neurologist.
• From 2007 to 2012, he served as a Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry
at Columbia University Medical Center, and was also designated the
university’s first Columbia University Artist.
• Dr. Sacks is currently a professor of neurology at the New York
University,School of Medicine
• In 1966 Dr. Sacks began working as a consulting neurologist for Beth
Abraham Hospital in the Bronx, a chronic care hospital where he
encountered an extraordinary group of patients, many of whom had spent
decades in strange, frozen states, like human statues, unable to initiate
movement.
• The movie the Awakenings was based off of Oliver Sacks
Summary from Oliver Sacks
• From the Man who mistook his wife for a hat and other clinical tales: By
Oliver Sacks
• Case Study of Christina
– Women diagnosed with gallstones and scheduled for surgery.
– Patient admitted to a hospital 3 days before surgery.
• Placed on an antibiotic for microbial prophylaxis
– Had a disturbing dream about her body function
• “the dream came true” and began having symptoms of
“disembodiment”.
• She had lost all proprioception, which was caused by an acute
polyneuritis (inflammation of several nerves at the same time)
• Operation was deferred
• Christina’s condition only worsened
Quiz!
• What movie was based off of Oliver Sacks?
Continued summary
– Doctors helped Christina regain control and function of her body by
teaching her how to substitute her proprioception with vision. Her
movement began to become automatism with fluency.
• Gained help from visual and auditory feedback
– The sense of the body is given by three things: (Normally they all work
together. If one sense fails, another will compensate and substitute for
everyday function.)
• vision
• balanced organs
• Proprioception
– Proprioception: our sixth sense: awareness of the position of one’s
body. A connection between state-of-body and state-of-mind. Feeling
own body as one’s.
– Disembodiment: the lacking proprioception.
Question
• question: What did Christina dream before her
scheduled surgery?
• question: Why was Christina going to have
surgery?
Quiz!
• True or False: Phineas Gage was involved in a
circus.
Work Cited
• De Vignemont, F., & Fourneret, P. (2004). The sense of
agency: A philosophical and empirical review of the
“Who” system. Consciousness and Cognition, 13(1), 119.
• Gallagher, S. (2000). Philosophical conceptions of the
self: implications for cognitive science. Trends in
cognitive sciences, 4(1), 14-21.
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Straub, R. O. (2007). Health psychology: A
biopsychosocial approach. Macmillan.
Links
• http://www.jneurosci.org/
• http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/
• http://www.sfn.org/annualmeeting/neuroscience-2013
Time for another Game!
• 1)What portion of the brain did Gage
Damage?
• A)hippocampus B)frontal lobe C)temporal lobe
• 2)Who wrote The Man Who Mistook His Wife
for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales
• A)Descartes B)Antonio R. Damasio C) Oliver
Sacks D) Oliver Saxophone
• 3)Post to Gage injury Gage could not
• A)Gage could not plan, stay focused, engaged
in foul language, and had poor decisionmaking B) Gage was Unable to walk, talk, and
loss his ability to hear in his left ear. C) All of
the above
• 4) From The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a
Hat and other Clinical Tails by Oliver Sacks a 27
year old woman
• A) Woke up with retrograde amnesia
• B) Felt like her body was not hers (felt dead)
• C) She originally had a minor flu that lead to
a deadly disorder
• 5)The title of our readings from chapter 4 The
Brain were
• a) The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
and Other Clinical Tales and From Descartes’
Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain
• B) From Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason,
and the Human Brain and Phineas Gage
• C) Phineas Gage The Man Who Mistook His
Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales
Pop Quiz!
• What was Descartes’ error?