- 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 6
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38 comments:
If a person suffers a major head injury we can infer that brain damage could be the cause of why the person's personality changed. Not all head injuries damage a part of the brain where a personality is affected. If it does damage a part of the brain that deals with personality then I would blame the brain damage on that. In the article it said that Phineas Gage was living a normal life and then after the accident he became an angry man. This is because he damaged a part of the underside of the frontal lobes, causing a change in personality.
Cerebral Palsy (CP) is caused by brain damage that occurs before birth, or during the first 3-5 years of life. The exact causes are unknown, but it occurs from brain damage or the brain doesn't develop normally. There is no cure so far for CP but there is treatment for it. CP affects muscle tone, movement, and motor skills.
[Written by Tyler Petcher]
Yes you would assume that. This is because if it was not brain damage then the person would probably only fear certain things because of the crash. But it is brain damage because he completly changes. In his life the people around him even notice this.
1.) Yes, if a person suffers a major head injury in an accident and acts differently afterward, we can assume that brain damage affected the person's personality. After reading the case on Phineas Gage, we know that after the accident, the damaged frontal lobe left Gage with a completely different personality. Even though he was able to walk and talk, he became "foul-mouth and ill-mannered". From this information, we can assume the brain damge was responsible for the personality change.
2.) Parkinson's disease results from lack of the chemical messenger, dopamine. This occurs if the brain cells that produce dopamine die or become impaired. Parkinson's disease is more likely to develop in men than women, and usually begins in middle or late life. Heredity also plays a factor for higher chance in developing Parkinson's disease. Some symptoms include:
tremor in the hands, slowed motion, impaired posture and balance, loss of expression and not swinging your arms as you walk, speech changes (you speak more softly, rapidly or in a monotone).
1) Based off of the evidence of this case and several others, it is secure to assume that brain damage can cause personality changes, as well as other mental complications. It is very logical to assume damage to the frontal lobes, which are responsible for consciousness and self-perception, would result in personality changes. However, it is also highly plausible for a person who undergoes a life altering experience to change their disposition and outlook on life.
2) Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia that mainly affects the Hippocampus. Our hippocampus is responsible for learning, memory and emotion. This disease causes amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles to form, which changes the shape and decreases the size of the hippocampus. It also destroys nerve cells and interrupts with their connectivity. All of these affects make the hippocampus incapable of establishing new memories, thinking coherently, building knowledge, and controlling emotions. The patients exhibit various types of behavior like: asking the same questions repeatedly; becoming lost in familiar places; being unable to follow directions; getting disoriented about time, people, and places; and neglecting personal safety, hygiene, and nutrition.
While in this case it may be safe to say that Phineas Gage's personality changed after the accident due to brain damage, it may not be. People change after traumatic events, events in one's past can drastically alter their future. In this case however there was proof that the frontal lobe was damages which can change his personality.
Phineas Gage suffered in a terrible accident. I'm surprised he even was able to survive, yet alone be able to speak after the accident. After the accident, Phineas Gage became more a different person, acting strange and more angry then usual. This proves that there was damage to his brain in the frontal lobe, where his personality is.
On the website i search Pick's disease which is a progressive dementia. It affects the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. With this disease, patients has difficulty naming common objects, they often repeat others words and hand gestures, and have primitive reflexes. The cause for this disease is unknown.
I agree with Eddie. Phineas Gage came out of that accident a completely different person. He had an angry temper, which according to the article, was not his personality before the accident. Even though he could still complete everyday tasks, such as walking and talking, his behavior was different, which we can assume was the effect of frontal lobe damage.
I agree with Jasper in that events in the past could change someone vastly. Just think about anyone that has been kidnapped or abused. Their life changes very dramatically afterwords. They tend to become quieter or sometimes they become more aggressive at others. This was not the case though for Phineas Gage.
[Written by Tyler Petcher]
Phineas Gage suffered damage to his head, particulary his brain, but that doens't mean is is braindead. Luckily, he injured his frontal lobe which is responsible for personality. This is why after the accident, his personality changed drastically.
regarding Petcher's comment and further going on my past comment, it does not always have to be a traumatic event in order for it to change us. It does not necessarily have to be something bad in order for it to make an impact, it can be something good. My point is that it doesn't take physical change to the brain in order to alter one's personality.
For the second part I research bacterial meningitis. Forms of meningitis are common, but bacterial meningits is an inflamation of the brain lining, which can lead to death. Some symptoms include severe headaches, vomiting, and other common flu-like symptoms. In later stages, you can develope a rash. There are a number of vaccines however most can only protect against a certain strain.
Regarding Phineas Gage, i am some what curious as to exactly how damage to the frontal lobe can change his personality if our personality is built upon the years of growing up. Wouldn't that mean that memory contributes to our personality? I understand that the frontal lobe is where it all happens, but can this type of damage really make that much of a difference?
I am not sure I agree with Jasper because for someone to be affected by a tramatic event, their emotions have to sense that which is part of the brain's limbic system. I guess what i'm trying ot say is that everything that affects something you do has an effect over your brain because it changes with your emotions, or your thoughts, or your muscles and nerves, which all are connected back to the brain.
For the second part of the blog i looked up Migraines. Scientist are not 100 percent sure as to why we have them, however it is believed to be caused by blood vessels expanding and the release of certain chemicals including dopamine and serotonin. They can be caused bu eating certain foods, birth control pills, not eating, and stress or tension.
We can assume that if someone is involved in an accident and afterwards acts differently, that the brain damage is responsible. Phineas Gage's frontal lobe was damages from the accident and the result was a new man. He went from a resposible and trustworthy man, to a fowl mouth and untrustworth man. His friends would even agree he was a different Phineas. Before Gage's incident the frontal lobe was not thought to have much to do with personality. But now we know it does.
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder that is characterized by repeating unprovoked seizures. Epilepsy affects the central nervous system. People that have epilepsy can still make friends and have a career. But they never know when a seizure may occur. So this does affect how comfortable the person is with going out in public in fear of having a seizure. Other effects are the risk of permanent damage and death. But that is rare.
I agree with Tyler Lentine because not all head injuries cause immediate alterations of the person. But since the accident led to an immediate change in personality, we can assume that the brain damage to Gage's frontal lobe cuased the dramatic change to his personality.
1) Correlation does not indicate causation. A person's personality could change for any number of reasons. However, it is very probable that the brain damage was the cause of the personality change, especially if the damaged area performed functions related to the change in personality (i.e. the personal becomes more or less emotional after frontal lobe damage).
2) Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain itself, as opposed to the brain lining, which is the condition of meningitis. The symptoms are the same--fever, headache, confusion, brain damage, stroke, seizures, even death. It is caused by viral and occasionally bacterial infections. Several thousand cases are reported each year. The direct infection can also be followed by a secondary encephalitis two to three weeks later.
-Colleen
@ Jasper K:
I think memory does contribute to personality, but personality is really the actions we choose to take based upon a combination of our memories and what is happening in the present moment. And these actions are determined by our emotion and reasoning mechanisms. So if these parts of the brain are damaged, I believe that yes, the personality could change dramatically. Think of the experiment in which the normally docile cat was made to behave aggressively simply because its amygdala was stimulated.
-Colleen
I wonder if Phineas Gage was able to notice the changes in his own personality after the accident. The frontal lobe calculates the consequences of actions, chooses between good and bad, suppresses unacceptable social responses, and modifies emotions to fit generally acceptable social norms. So Phineas Gage could control his unacceptable emotions, but could he realize that he had become ill-mannered and was unable to control it, or was he unable to notice this because of the brain damage? How would he have reacted when people tried to explain the situation to him? Wouldn't it be odd to wake up from an accident with all your friends telling you that you have become a different person?
* couldn't control
That is a good point you make Colleen. What if he was able to notice the changes in himself? It is probably not likely though because he came out as a whole another person. He probably couldn't remember anything prior to the accident even though it does not mention this in the article.
[Written by Tyler Petcher]
I also agree with Jasper that events from the past could alter someone's personality. Especially events during childhood. These event could drastically change how a child act, think, and behave.
I believe that in most cases, if a persons personality changes after a major head injury, then you can blame the injury. In some cases, it could just be a reastion to the injury, but if the area in the brain that affects personality was injured then you can blame the injury.
Dementia due to head trauma can cause Apathy, irritability, pathological crying, paresthesias, pain, and hypersomnia if the injury were to be to the Thalmus.
I agree with Colleen when she questions if Phineas realizes that his personality has changed. I also wonder if he does realize it, if he can slowly change back to his old personality.
I definately agree with Jasper on this, it does not require physical brain damage to change someone's personality. Just experiencing something intense and traumatic can cause someone to transform into another person, with different values, opinions, and thoughts.
The frontal lobe was injured. The frontal lobe controls emotions, parts of speech, and reasoning. Obviously some of his frontal lobe went missing, and same with some functions of his brain. He emotions, and reasoning were both probably screwed up, causing him to be a angry person.
Multiple System Atrophy causes a person to loose control of muscles, and speech. The autonomic nervous system is what causes it.
At the moment there is no cure for it...
[Craig Felton]
In most cases like Phineas Gage's, we can say that an injury to this specific part of the head does affect the personality of the human. Phineas Gage's personality was distinctly changed because of the trauma to his frontal lobe.
The Lewy Body Disease is located on the cortex and mid-brain as abnormal structures. This disease resembles Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. The Lewy Body Disease is Dementia. There is no real treatment or medication for this disease.
I also agree with Aleah when she says that some people may have a change in personality because of the realization of the head injury. The person may just get bitter towards life, or maybe even joyful. It could go either way.
I have to totally agree that if a person acts differently after a huge brain injury, that brain damage was responsible for the change. Though I understand Jasper point, I think its safe to say that in Phineas Gage's case it was due to the brain injury. His friends said that they didn't 'know' who he was, because he had changed so much. Plus you don't have a 3" rod go through your brain without any consequences.
I also like what Colleen says about Phineas knowing that his personality changed. Do you think that he just thinks that his personality has always been like that? Does he even think anything is different? I love this interesting point she makes because it raises a quantity of questions.
Looking at colleens post, I have to agree with the point "Correlation does not indicate causation". But like she said its really un-probable for there to be no change.
[craig f.[]]
A person who has undergone a major head injury that caused brain damage would certainly affect the person's personality. Phineas Gage suddenly became very angry and aggressive after living a fairly regular life and a normal personality. The frontal lobes could have certainly affected his attitude. Although life-changing experiences like this can affect one's personality, I think Phineas's brain was severly altered after his injury.
Alzheimer Disease is a form of Dementia that effects parts of the brain that control thought, memory, and language. Up to 4.5 million Americans suffer from it, and can live with it for up to around 20 years.
I thought Craig's comments about part of the frontal lobe being missing was very reasonable and accurate. It would explain is angry behavior very scientifically without having to make many plain assumtions.
I liked Caitlin's comments about a tramatic experience affecting emotions and your limbic system. I think that is also a very strong argument of how Gage's personality altered so confusingly.
I'm not so sure i agree with Jasper. Gage suffered damage to the frontal lobe of his brain, causing his personality to change. As for someone who was been kidnapped or abused, their frontal lobe is not damaged. They could still be suffering from depression, which deals with a completely different part of the brain. I don't believe those two link together.
if there is crucial damage dine to the brain. Depending on which part was damged yes it can change the person. His personality changed because it was his frontal lobe that got damged. Your frontal lobe is basically "you"
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