H.M. revealed
People who don’t travel but enjoy reading about it are called armchair travellers, so I guess that makes me an armchair neurologist. (!!!) Anything brain-related and I’m there. So I was amazed to read this in the New York Times recently. It’s the obituary of a man written about extensively in the literature of neuroscience, but always, for confidentiality of course, know as H.M. Somehow, it’s just really odd to see a photo of him and know his name: Henry Gustav Molaison.
…He developed a syndrome neurologists call profound amnesia. He had lost the ability to form new memories.
For the next 55 years, each time he met a friend, each time he ate a meal, each time he walked in the woods, it was as if for the first time.
And for those five decades, he was recognized as the most important patient in the history of brain science.
(Don’t miss Oliver Sacks’s website, it’s full of interesting things and book recommendations!)
Tags: brain, memory, neuroscience, profound amnesia