HENRY MOLAISON
• WHEN HE WAS 7 YEARS OLD HE SUFFERED A BICYCLE ACCIDENT RESULTING IN
HIM HAVING INTRACTABLE EPILEPSY.
• AT AGE 27 HE UNDERWENT SURGERY IN ORDER TO REDUCE THE SEVERITY OF
HIS EPILEPSY.
• HE LOST HIS MEMORY ON AN OPERATING TABLE IN AUGUST OF 1953.
THE OPERATION
• CONSISTED OF REMOVING HIS HIPPOCAMPUS AND PARTS OF HIS TEMPORAL
LOBE.
• HE WAS ABLE TO RECALL MEMORIES OF HIS CHILDHOOD, BUT NO LONGER
REMEMBER ANYTHING OF HIS PAST CLOSE TO THE OPERATION.
• HE HAD ALSO SUFFERED A RETROGRADE MEMORY LOSS (A LOSS OF MEMORY
PRIOR TO BRAIN DAMAGE) FOR ELEVEN YEARS BEFORE HIS OPERATION.
THE EXPERIMENTS
• FOR 55 YEARS HENRY PARTICIPATED IN NUMEROUS EXPERIMENTS, MAINLY AT
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (MIT)
• PROFESSOR SUZANNE CORKIN AND HER TEAM EXAMINED HIM.
• HE WAS ABLE TO LEARN AND REMEMBER A SET OF NUMBERS, BUT THIS
MEMORY WOULD ONLY LAST FOR A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME. HE WAS STILL
CAPABLE OF LEARNING NEW MOTOR SKILLS.
HIS DEATH
• HENRY DIED ON DECEMBER 2, 2008, AT THE AGE OF 82.
• THE STUDY OF MOLAISON CHANGED THE UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN MEMORY.
• UP UNTIL THEN IT WAS NOT KNOWN THAT THE HIPPOCAMPUS WAS ESSENTIAL
FOR MAKING MEMORIES, AND IF WE LOOSE BOTH OF THESE PIECES OF OUR BRAIN
IT CAN LEAD TO GLOBAL AMNESIA
• ONE THIS WAS REALIZED, THE FINDINGS WERE WIDELY PUBLICIZED SO THAT THIS
OPERATION TO REMOVE BOTH HIPPOCAMPUS WOULD NEVER BE DONE AGAIN.
SOURCES
• Memory - body, The Strange Case of H.M.. (n.d.). Retrieved
from http://www.humanillnesses.com/Behavioral-Health-Fe-Mu/Memory.html
• Jenni, Ph.D., O. (2012, January 16). HM, the Man with No Memory. Retrieved
from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/trouble-in-mind/201201/hm-theman-no-memory
• Newhouse, B. (2007, February 24). H.m.'s brain and the history of memory. Retrieved
from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7584970