Gage remained conscious on the way to the doctor. Once there, Dr. Harlow, bandaged his wounds, which bled for 2 days. Gage showed no obvious, immediate mental deficits, but an aggressive viral infection set in at the damaged area which led to a month of half-conscious recovery. The infection finally decreased and Gage made a complete recovery, with the exception of blindness in his left eye and weakness in the left side of his face. However, upon returning to work it became quite clear that Gage was not completely himself.
Damage to the temporal lobes caused the brain from registering any new events that had happened. The frontal lobe is involved in motor function, problem solving, spontaneity, memory, language, initiation, judgment, impulse control, and social and sexual behavior, Greg was unable to carry on a normal conversation and was found to not make sense of what was trying to be communicated. Greg’s hypothalamus was also destroyed, and explains the reason for his blindness (Carpenter & Huffman, 2011). This case study led to scientific knowledge of how that specific brain regions function by Doctors and physiologists being able to study Greg and use the findings to share with other people in the science community. Oliver Sacks discovered, even though Greg lost a great portion of his brain, that when music played Greg would become more alive, more engaged in life, especially when music like the Grateful Dead or other music from that era would be played (Sacks, 2011).
Since then he has not been able to form new memories. The area of the brain that had been damaged meant he could not transfer information to LTM. As a result of this, it has been argued that in effect it restarts his memory system every 18 seconds (the length of time his short-term memory lasts for). He only remembers fragments of his life prior to 1985 – he knows he has children from a previous marriage but cannot name them. He shows no loss of affection for his wife though, and he greets her joyously every time he sees her as if he hasn’t seen her in years.
In fact, the ancient Greeks had recognised that abnormalities such as epilepsy might be caused by brain disorders, but it was not until physiologists like von Haller and Greisinger argued that the brain played a crucial role in causing abnormal behaviour that the biological approach ‘took off’. The biological approach to the causes of abnormality The biological approach sees abnormality as being caused by physical factors. The three physical factors are: (1) Brain damage (2) Faulty regulation of brain biochemistry (3) Genetic factors Brain damage: Early support for the biological approach came from studies of patients suffering from a condition called 'general paresis of the insane'. This condition is characterised by delusions of grandeur and mental deterioration. However, far from being caused by 'demonic possession', research showed that its causes were biological (it occurs if syphilis is left untreated - the syphilis bacterium makes its way to the brain and causes damage to it).
& Mitterer, J. O., 2013). The temporal lobes also play a significant role in understanding language. It is important to understand that there are association areas in both lobes and it is these areas that combine and process information from the senses. So although there are specific areas where we know auditory information is processed, such as in the temporal lobes, or where motor functions are controlled, such as in the frontal lobes, the association areas make up the majority of these lobes. Which is why damage to any part of these areas on the left hemisphere of the brain can cause aphasia, which is having “impaired ability to use language” (Coon, D. & Mitterer, J. O.,
Facial recognition is the most important cognitive function that we use in any social setting. The ability to recognise faces is essential in helping us to form and maintain relationships with others (Carlson, Martin & Buskist, 2007). However, in spite of the vast research done in this area, there are many conflicting theories regarding the cognitive processes involved in facial recognition. The main point of conflict is the extent to which facial recognition can be disassociated from object recognition. Based on the conclusions of several experimental and neurological studies, specifically the ones mentioned throughout this essay, it is indeed correct to say that we process faces in a different, more holistic manner than we do with objects where the emphasis is placed on the relationship between the object’s features.
The mortality rate of mothers dropped from about 18% to 1%. There were even months when no women died! Younger people noticed and agreed with what Semmelweis had discovered – but Semmelweis’s boss still didn’t. Semmelweis was dropped from his job in 1849 and failed to find any other until the following year, when he started work at a hospital in Pest. Again, due to his hand-washing practices, death rates dropped to less than 1% in his hospital, but remained as high as 15% elsewhere.
Further damage to his trust happened when a member of his family died in hospital, they contracted MRSA while being treated for a broken leg in 2004. Self-diagnose and self-prescribe with the help of the internet is now the only form of medical attention he receives. It has been 15 years since Mr D has seen a doctor and his attitude towards his health now is “what will be will be”. There is a wide variety of
The pharmacy was so busy that day and short staffed, which led to a preventable fatal error that changed Eric’s whole life in a matter of seconds. The pharmacist was charged for reckless homicide and involuntary manslaughter in the death of little Emily, but the technician did not face any criminal charges (Institute for Safe Medication Practices, 2009). It is important to know that medication errors can happen in any health care setting; however, they are preventable. According to the Institute of Medicine: Shaping the future for health. (1999), approximately 1.5 million people are harmed each year, costing health care facilities at least $3.5 billion in medical expenses.
Though he did not know what caused it, Charcot was able to write down a full description of the disease. He became increasingly frustrated with the fact that this disease was unresponsive to any treatment he tried. In the later decades of the 19th century it became clearer that the disease was much more common in women than in men, something that still baffles doctors. At this point doctors were able to discern that it was not directly inherited, and that it affects different people in different ways. The only way the Multiple Sclerosis could be diagnosed was examining the spinal fluid of a patient after a painful and dangerous spinal tap.