TIL that in 1848 a railroad worker survived an accident where an iron bar pierced through his head, destroying most of his left frontal lobe. However, his personality and behavior changed considerably
TIL that in 1848 a railroad worker survived an accident where an iron bar pierced through his head, destroying most of his left frontal lobe. However, his personality and behavior changed considerably
That story as it's commonly told is probably not correct. Everything about the blast and the hole in his head is true, but the drastic personality changes are probably incorrect.
Malcolm MacMillan wrote a masterpiece on what we actually know about the life of Gage, and it's far from the angry impulsive man we hear about in textbooks.
Thanks for bringing up MacMillan. Manon Auffret has more recently researched the newspaper coverage of Gage, and her research adds a great deal of evidence supporting MacMillan's arguments. Basically, there's a lot of sensationalist and verifiably false stories about Gage. There's no evidence from the time period of personality changes, and a lot of the wild stories appeared decades after his death, probably fabricated. Allegedly Gage was a drunk, but the evidence shows he abstained completely. Allegedly he beat his wife, but evidence shows he was never married. Allegedly he was a circus performer but there's no evidence from the time period to support this.
Well thank you for pointing me to the abatract. Makes me want to see the actual poster.
Thanks for the read. Didn't know that.
The human brain has an incredible capacity to keep working under ridiculous circumstances. Remove half your brain? You're good besides having to relearn some stuff.
Born with 90% of your brain missing? Might not even know until you have an unrelated MRI as an adult (true story, guy only had a shell of a brain filled with CSF).
This makes me wonder, could it be possible to have a stroke without ever knowing because your brain adapted to it?
Born with 90% of your brain missing? Might not even know until you have an unrelated MRI as an adult (true story, guy only had a shell of a brain filled with CSF).
Did he otherwise have a normal life and behaved normally? Also, what's CSF?
I think he had an IQ that was below average, but other than that I believe he was normal.
And cerebral spinal fluid.
CSF is cerebrospinal fluid, liquid in and around your brain/spine.
Phineas Gage's story and subsequent impact on many fields is fascinating.
I’ve worked in health care and watching people with TBIs change is wild.
It raises the Ship of Theseus issue. Did he really survive if he was a different person after?
Yes, he did. We all change over time. I was once a toddler who couldn't walk. Now I'm nearly 40 and thus far can walk just fine. I'm different from who I was, but still I'm the same person.
He was still himself, just modified by his injury
I’m mid-40s and not at all the same person I was in my 30s, which was very different from my 20s, which was very different from my teens, etc. What makes you certain that you’re the same person? What is there about you that, if it changed, would make you not the same person? I’m honestly curious about your perspective.
Dara O'Briain has one of my favorite retellings of the incident
Don't ever tell yourself you need this job like a hole in the head.