- After reading "Is Phineas Gage Still the Same Man?", consider this...If a person suffers a major head injury in an accident and then acts differently afterward, can we assume that brain damage was responsible for the personality change? Why or why not?
- Search on the following site, http://www.mic.ki.se/Diseases/c10.228.html, for other forms of brain damge. Discuss what part of the brain damaged and how the patient's behavior was affected?
Friday, September 19, 2008
Phineas Gage - AP Psychology Period 3
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46 comments:
I do believe that if a person suffers a major head injury in an accident that there personality change was the responsiblity of brain damage. When the metal rod shot upward through phineas gage's brain and out the top of his head, the metal rod had hit the frontal lobe. The frontal lobe is considered our emoitonal center and home to our personality. After the accident Phineas gage was no longer a dependable worker and he also became foul-mouthed and ill mannered. When the frontal lobe was damged so was the judgement, language, and social behavior of Phineas gage. What eles could we assume that the personality of a person could change? How eles could one person act one way and then begin to act another way.
If someone has a change in personality after they have suffered a major brain injury we cannot assume that the frontal lobe was hit and directly caused the personality shift, like in Phineas Gage, the personality shift could also be caused by trauma or a change in perspective if the injury was a tramatic event.
If someone was injured in the frontal lobe of the brain it would be rational to assume that the person had changed due to the excessive injury that afflicted the brain. This is because the morals and characteristics that define us originate from the frtontal lobe. Thus once these lobes are damgaged, like Gage's, then our whole character is changed and restructured resulting in a completley different person.
1. I believe that if someone suffers from a major personality change after an accident, we can assume that their character change is due to brain damage. We can assume this because there are several areas in the brain devoted to personality and damaging any one of them would have a drastic effect on someone's personality. For Example, Phineas Gage, although one a kind and loveabld guy, became dishonest and mean after a pole went through his skull damaging the area right above his ears.
2. In the brain disease Dimentia patients suffer a personailty change. This personality change and Dimentia itself is caused by brain tumors that damage the brain.
Nicholas Hohman:
How was Phineas Gage's personality change not caused by brain damage? I mean yes, a pole did go through his skull and that is a traumatic event, but according to the article, scientists pinpointed the cause of Gage's personality change to be due to brain damage.
1. I believe that after tramatic injury to the brain any change in personality can be attributed to the brain damage that has been suffered. In the case of Phineas Gage it is clearly apparent that the damage to the frontal lobes of the brain casued the change in personality. Any huge damage will change to personality due to the damaged linkages in the brain that make up personality, this will casue the brain to be forced to look at things thought different thought patterns leading to a change in personality.
2. In many brain diseases the people's personality changes. In cases where cancer is involved this can be attributed to the lost brain tissue and the linkages involved therein.
Damage to the brain maybe only one aspect of the change. If for example, a person was hit by a car, he/she might become much more weary in every day life where cars a everywhere. Trauma can cause people to break down into hysterics. Perhaps the brain damage was cause by another person (with a baseball bat per se). Maybe that person acts differently around people because he/she finds it hard to trust people any more. Personality can change for many reasons, not just by brain damage alone.
Likewise, a major head injury does not automatically mean damage to the "underside of the frontal lobes" where personality is located in the brain. If that section was undamaged, then there would be no brain-related cause for the personality change, right?
Alex Wald:
I think what Nick was saying was that Phineas Gage was an example of the frontal lobe being hit, not an example of a personality shift due to trauma.
I do agree with Nick though. Change in personality cannot be totally attributed to brain damage. There are other factors that affect people as well, such as trauma.
I'm pretty sure that if we look, there are people out there who suffered head injuries [not necessarily to the frontal lobe] who still acted the same after the incident.
Question 2: ( I forgot to answer earlier)
Stroke is cause by a lack of blood or a hemorrhage in one part of the brain. The affected part of the brain becomes unable to function. So a person becomes unable to see if it affects his visual cortex. If it affects one side of the brain, he becomes unable to move one side of his body. After a stroke, it takes time and work to relearn these abilities.
Question 1
I think that in the case of a person that suffers a major head injury and acts differently, it is to be assumed that brain damage was responsible. We all have learned that the frontal lobe is responsible for our personality and behavior.
However, I do believe that Nick makes a great point. When someone gets a major head injury, perhaps we shouldn't immediately assume brain damage is responsible. Nick only mentioned trauma as a possible explanation, but I'm sure there could be other reasons. Consider Phineas Gage. He was a considered a "promising railroad worker". Now his career was ruined because of an accident that could have taken his life and destroyed his career.
In the case of Phineas Gage, many things could explain his personality change. I believe that brain damage is a big reason. However, other forces such as both trauma and the affects on his career could have also changed Phineas.
Question 2
One form of brain damage that I am familiar with (not personally, but I know about it) is Alzheimer's disease. It typically affects the temporal and/or paterial lobe. It generally deals with the loss of memory by deterioration of neurons in those lobes. I'm not sure how much their behavior would be affected, but I do know they lose their memory and won't remember who you are or what you just talked about.
Alex Wald:
You said, "I mean yes, a pole did go through his skull and that is a traumatic event, but according to the article, scientists pinpointed the cause of Gage's personality change to be due to brain damage."
I don't think pinpointed is the correct term to use here. In the article, it clearly says that damage to the right frontal areas can produce impulsive and rule-breaking behaviors. If you know anything about Phineas Gage or looked at the picture, you can see that Phineas suffered damage to his left frontal lobe, not the right.
Also, I don't think that this article is completely clear on whether scientists have definetly pinpointed anything yet. It gave one theory for Phineas' change. As far as I know, the Damasio's haven't recreated the experiement or researched similar scenarios. Also, the Damasio's made this assumption in 1992, not 1848 when this actually happened. So ko factual observations were made.
While I do believe that brain damage is the most possible cause for Phineas Gage's personality change, I don't think that we should always automatically assume brain damage. Plus, there has been no factual evidence saying damage to the left frontal lobe changes personality. If someone can find another example of personality change similar to Phineas Gage's, please tell me and I will be convinced.
I definately do think that the rod going up Gages brain completely changed him. We dont know exactly what part of the brain was hit, but its almost proven that it was the frontal lobe, the part that makes us who we are. I read a few other articles on Phineas Gage as well and it had said that all of a sudden he was a new person, what he would do and what he would say wasnt is typical self. So if a person suffers from a brain injury, I think they change depending on where the injury was and how severe it was as well.
I do believe that if someone has chagne in their personality that in some way or another some part of the brain was damaged and in this case it is the frontal lobe. how eles could someone be fine get into a car accident and suffer from the injurys and then all of a sudden be a totally different person. A person just does not change like that automatically.
Erick:
There are more examples of people receiving damage to the left frontal lobe and experiencing personality changes, like that of Phineas Gage. In the article, there is a sentence in the second to last paragraph that says "People who suffer damage to the same part of the brain today experience similar changes in personality". Also, the last paragraph is dedicated to describing others who have had damage to their frontal lobes and experienced changes in behavior such as "impulsive and rule-breaking" behavior. That is why I think that if someone experiences a drastic personality change and also had an accident in which their frontal lobes were damaged, than their personality change can be assumed to have been caused by the brain damage.
Major brain injuries are very dangerous and most often, fatal. I would also have to say that any sort of injury to the brain can affect the way someone thinks or acts in some aspect. I think that other factors play a role into the uniqueness of a person too. Different events in one's life mold the person into becoming an individual. Since nobody experiences the same events or looks at things the same way, nobody is the same.
I can say from experience that traumitizing events play a particular role into how you view your life and how you view the world. I have been in two car accidents in a span of a couple years (one was on new years day, this last new years day actually, and boy that was a fun way to start out the new year.) and the shock is felt instantly. You realize how fragile life is and how one second in your life can change you completely.
In Phineas Gage's case, that one second changed who he was for the worse. The actual physical damage inflicted on his brain was an obvious factor that changed his entire character. It's a really unfortunate incident that he had, but he presented a case for doctors and other professionals to examine and discuss what happened to him. Maybe in the future, the doctors can correct damage to the brain so the individual can go on with his life without any severe changes.
Nick:
I think that the damage to the brain could most defiantly be attributed to the change in personality. This is due to the fact that other people with damage or diseases to the prefrontal cortex show similar changes in their personality. This can almost prove that the brain damage is what caused the change. It further makes sense that this would be the case due to the served linkages which actually do make up the personality. However, I do agree that it has not be experimentally verified yet so it cannot be considered complete scientific fact.
Brian:
I agree that trauma can really shape the type of character and personality that you have but I believe that in this case trauma did not play a huge role. The article says that Gage was able to get up right after the accident and did not seem hugely affected by the trauma of the rod. He did not freak out he simply asked when he could go back to work, this shows that he was not really affected by the trauma that happens to people that get in accidents so it can possibly be said that trauma did not have any true effect on Gage. Although in many other situations trauma does cause changes in the personality.
I agree with Nick in regards to the fact that damage to the frontal lobe isn't the only thing that can change someone's personality. Although it is hard to argue that the rod played no role at all. Based on what the article said, Phineas Gage was a very well-mannered man. It is hard to explain that something else caused his personality to shift so radically. It would be very interesting if the opposite situation occured and Phineas Gage turned from a disgruntled man into a very pleasant man. That might mean that you could turn on and off a switch in your brain to change between nice and angry.
Thats a good point Sam. In this situation in particular, damage to the frontal lobe is most responsible for the changes that happened to Phineas Gage. This is a very rare occasion however because a rod went through his brain and out the other side (that doesn't happen to most people). But in general, damage to the frontal lobe isn't the only thing that accounts for a change in personality. One has to look at the circumstances and determine what factors or events brought about change to the personality for themselves.
Alex Wald:
You still haven't given me an example of another person with injuries of that of Phineas Gage. True the article says "other researchers also found changes in patients' personalities after brain injuries". But not to the left frontal lobe. It gives examples to right frontal lobe damage causing rule breaking behavior. Then it gives an example of damage to the frontal lobe involving changes in facial expressions, not personality changes. Lastly, according to the article, the Damasio's research proved damage to "same part" (very vague, it doesn't say left frontal lobe like it said before about poor Phineas) caused changes in censoring of thoughts.
Also, I would like to say that there is no doubt that Phineas Gage suffered brain damage that altered his personality. But I like to play the devil's advocate. What if there was other things, like trauma, the destruction of his career, or something else that aided in the radical change of personality? What if he found it easier to blame the stealing and ill-manner on his wound? The article itself said that people blurted out things they would have kept to themselves after brain damage. Does that mean Phineas was always this person underneath and found this personality change an easy way to become the person he only was in his mind? (Just trying to get a conversation going so not everybody answers "Yes this is caused by brain damage...")
1. If there is an extreme change in personality then the head injury is a definite posibility for why the change occured. However, it is not safe to assume that unless the person undergoes some sort of test to prove that the injury was the reason.
2. Alzheimer's disease involves the parts of the brain that control thought, memory, and language. It alters personalities a lot, but scientists have not yet been able to find what causes it.
I agree with nick, if a person has had a personality change, we cannot say it is definitely due to brain damage. The people who are injured must go through tests to see if it was really brain damage or trauma.
I don’t think that his personality shifted from one gear to another just because a metal rod went through his frontal lobe. Sure the frontal lobe is the personality lobe, but perhaps instead of creating an alternate personality maybe the damage just impacted his restraint to hold back his thoughts. It says that the combination of excessive talking and lack of facial expressions may make these individuals seem like different people, not that they are a different person. I mean think of it this way. We all have thoughts that we don’t want to share with the world, but we also have the restrain that allows us to keep it that way. If any of us received an injury similar to Phineas’s perhaps we wouldn’t be able to restrain those thoughts. So instead of keeping up the image we would like to be perceived as, our thoughts would give away our truer selves rather than the selective parts we let out.
I don’t think the trauma of a metal rod would make someone ill-tempered and although he became unreliable at work, didn’t he first ask the doctor when he could go back to work? If a person was truly traumatized they wouldn’t be asking when they could go back and work, the place where his injury happened.
Jen makes some pretty solid and interesting points. People's personalities are constantly changing because of outside forces. Just because someone's personality changes doesn't mean it is because their brain has been damaged.
If a person suffers a major head injury and acts differently after i think it can be associated with the injury. after all the center of all thought and action is the brain, so if you act differently it would have to do with the brain
i agree with alex. our personality is controlled by the brain and it would make a difference if these areas were effected
Phineas Gage was a hard working and well like person, but after damaging his frontal lobe, he became a very different person. He spoke very rudely and no longer was a hard worker. His personality changed due to the damage to his frontal lobe. The frontal lobe is who we are as far as our personality and how we deal with our emotions. When Phineas's frontal lobe was damaged, it also damaged his personality and changed it forever. I believe that we can assume that brain damage was responsible for the personality change after suffering a major head injury in an accident. On the other hand, how was he able to survive from the metal rod shooting through his head. Shouldn't the pain have caused him to lose consciousness?
I agree with Delfinia. If you get into a car accident and just walk away from it, then you didn't damage the parts of the brain that give you the ability to have balance and walk and talk. But if you receive damage to the frontal lobe, then your personality will change because that is what the frontal lobe is made up of, your personality.
I agree with what Ashley said. If your personality changes after having an accident, then it can pretty much be determined that it was becasue of the accident. People don't just change whenever they feel like it. There are other things that happen that changes us. If you get into a car accident and damage you frontal lobe, you will experience a different personality because you damaged your old one.
I don't beleive that his personality change was a direct result of his frontal lobe being damaged. Many other things can also have affected it such as trauma and how dangerous thoughts continued to linger in his mind. As a result, he could have been a little more testy and sensitive as a result. Any little provoking situation can help escalate his sensitivities and emotions.
I disagree with asheley in that the change was all due to the brain injury. I believe that the simple fact of human nature makes him more fragile every time he is reminded of the situation and may become oversensitive. Yeah, maybe a good portion was but not all of it.
i do not believe that if a person is different after an accident it is caused by brain damage. In some instances a change in behavior or personality can be a result of mental trauma or the experience as a whole.
As a result of multiple brain tumors or growths elder humans develop dementia. This is short term memory loss; they can remember what schools they attended as children but not what they just ate for breakfast
i completely agree with jen. Her opinion was similar to mine in the fact that damage alone may not be responsible for the sudden change in a person.
I understand where alex is coming from, but I don't think that a change in a person has to come from actual brain damage. I know that events in my life has changed me and I know my brain is still in the same condition.
1. In the case of Phineas Gage the major head injury was damage to the brain which caused his personality to change. it hit most of the frontal lobe which we learned from the test is who we are as people so, it is easily put that frontal lobe damage equals change in personality.
2. There are many different types of brain damage but a brain tumor in which the tumor was removed along with some brain tissue you are bound to have a effect on either personality or ability to do something.
I also agree with Nick aswell on the point that just because he had a rod shoved through his had his personaltiy changed. Yes it could have been a major part or maybe he is just ticked off it happened to him. We may never know because we can't ask him or study his brain today.
I agree with jen that the brain injury can be solely the blame for all the personality changes. Many things happen in an individuals life that can affect their personality and change it. Therefore, other influences and occurances afterwards could have affected the change.
People that responded to me:
Sorry, what I meant to say was that Phineas Gage's personality was changed by the frontal lobe damage, that much is obvious. However, in all cases where a head injury is sustained and their is a personality shift, we cannot say it was caused by lobe damage, it could have been from trauma.
To Jen:
You make some pretty solid and interestng points. People's personalities are constantly changing because of outside forces. Just because someone's personality changes doesn't mean it is because their brain has been damaged.
Andrew:
"People don't just change whenever they feel like it."
Quite the contrary, people change their own personalities all the time, for better or for worse. I doubt anyone goes through life without changing their personality. Although it maybe slow under normal circumstances, it could be faster during extreme circumstances.
If a person suffers serious trauma to a certain region of the brain, a change and personality can result. In the case of Phineas Gage, the damage was to the frontal lobe, the region of the brain where personality, and emotions are created, damage to this area could completly explain a change in the personality of a person.
I can understand what Nick is aying with his argument, he is not saying that the pole that went through Mr. Gages skull did not affect his personality, he is simply saying that the pole was not the only cause of Gage's change in personality
I agree with Delfina, because diffrent parts of the brain can be destroyed in any accident, even if a person walks away from a car accident, or work related accident they can still walk away with mental damage
I agree with Jen when she says that there are other factors that can also be attributed to a personality change however I still believe that traumu to the frontal lobe was the predominant factor in affecting the way someone behaves.
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