NH+Lobotomy+Class+Notes

Phineas Gage -railroad project in Vermont -3ft long 14 pound iron tamping rod went through his skull -forgot to put sand down- gunpowder got ignited and rod got shot into his head -shot though his head- landed about 100 ft behind him -conscience- completely in control of himself -demeanor changed fitful, irreverent, used profanity a lot more, stubborn, impatient -11 yrs after accident began to have seizures and died a few months after that -rod passed through his frontal cortex -both lobes? Or just left side -helped us to see that frontal lobes affect behavior

lobotomies -done starting in the 1940’s -1946- walter freeman -preformed the first ever transorbital icepick lobotomy -take an icepick and ruin the frontal cortex -mental illness is caused by problems in the frontal cortex- getting rid of it will fix problems