Phineas Gage
Phineas P. Gage was an American railroad construction foreman remembered for his improbable survival of an accident in which a large iron rod was driven completely through his head, destroying much of his brain's left frontal lobe, and for that injury's reported effects on his personalit…
What was Phineas Gage like before his accident?
What was Phineas Gage like before his accident? Popular reports of Gage often depict him as a hardworking, pleasant man prior to the accident. Post-accident, these reports describe him as a changed man, suggesting that the injury had transformed him into a surly, aggressive drunkard who was unable to hold down a job.
How did Phineas Gage change psychology?
The resultant change in Gage’s personality — when he went from being well-liked and professionally successful to being “fitful, irreverent, and grossly profane, showing little deference for his fellows” and unable to keep his job — is widely cited in modern psychology as the textbook case for post-traumatic social disinhibition.
How was Phineas Gage's brain injury changed his personality?
Gage suffered a severe brain injury from an iron rod penetrating his skull, of which he miraculously survived. After the accident, Gage's personality was said to have changed as a result of the damage the frontal lobe of his brain .
Why is Phineas Gage important to psychology?
Phineas Gage
- The case of Phineas Gage has been of huge interest in the field of psychology and is a largely speculated phenomena.
- Gage suffered a severe brain injury from an iron rod penetrating his skull, of which he miraculously survived.
- After the accident, Gage’s personality was said to have changed as a result of the damage the frontal lobe of his brain.
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What can we learn from Phineas Gage?
Why is Phineas Gage important to psychology? Gage's accident helped teach us that different parts of the brain play a role in different functions. Through studying Gage's frontal lobe damage, we gained a better understanding of what the frontal cortex does with regard to personality.
What does Phineas Gage teach us about personality?
Despite the exaggerated stories and fabrications, Gage taught us that complex functions such as decision-making and social cognition are largely dependent upon the frontal lobes. What does seem well established is that he managed to hold down several jobs in the years following his injury.
What did we learn about the frontal lobe from Phineas Gage?
Gage's case became one of the first pieces of evidence suggesting that the frontal lobe was directly involved in personality. It was believed that brain lesions caused permanents deficits to a person. However, Gage was proven to have recovered remarkably and live a mostly normal life despite his injury.
What are three symptoms of frontal lobe damage?
Some potential symptoms of frontal lobe damage can include:loss of movement, either partial (paresis) or complete (paralysis), on the opposite side of the body.difficulty performing tasks that require a sequence of movements.trouble with speech or language (aphasia)poor planning or organization.More items...
Why did Phineas Gage's personality change?
Gage didn't die. But the tamping iron destroyed much of his brain's left frontal lobe, and Gage's once even-tempered personality changed dramatically.
Can you have a brain bleed and not know it?
Blood from the burst vessel exerts pressure on the brain, cutting off oxygen to cells and, ultimately, killing them. Blood also irritates brain tissues, creating a bruise or bump called a hematoma, which can also place pressure on brain tissue. Occasionally, you won't feel any initial symptoms.
Will the habit of hitting my head cause damage to my brain?
Problems thinking, moving, and controlling your emotions may not go away, especially if you've taken many hits to the head (from sports, for example). There's some evidence that having a TBI increases your risk for Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's, CTE, and other brain disorders as you get older.
Can you survive if your frontal lobe is damaged?
Damage to the frontal lobe may cause a variety of effects such as impaired muscle movements, personality changes, and impulsive behavior. Fortunately, many individuals are able to recover functions affected by frontal lobe damage and improve their quality of life.
What is normal behavior for a person with frontal lobe damage?
The frontal lobe, for example, helps govern personality and impulsivity. If damaged, there might be no “braking mechanism” for self-control. A person may find he cannot control his anger or aggression. He may also make inappropriate comments to friends or strangers not realizing they are off color.
What are five things your frontal lobe controls?
The frontal lobes are important for voluntary movement, expressive language and for managing higher level executive functions. Executive functions refer to a collection of cognitive skills including the capacity to plan, organise, initiate, self-monitor and control one's responses in order to achieve a goal.
What Happened to Phineas Gage?
After the accident, Gage was unable to return to his previous job. According to Harlow, Gage spent some time traveling through New England and Europe with his tamping iron in order to earn money, supposedly even appearing in the Barnum American Museum in New York. 2
What was Phineas Gage's impact on the world?
Gage's Influence. Post-Accident Life. Phineas Gage is often referred to as one of the most famous patients in neuroscience. He experienced a traumatic brain injury when an iron rod was driven through his entire skull, destroying much of his frontal lobe . Gage miraculously survived the accident.
Why did Gage travel with his tampering iron?
According to Harlow, Gage spent some time traveling through New England and Europe with his tamping iron in order to earn money , supposedly even appearing in the Barnum American Museum in New York. 2.
How did Gage's brain damage affect Harlow's report?
Harlow's accounts suggest that the injury did lead to a loss of social inhibition, leading Gage to behave in ways that were seen as inappropriate.
What did Gage's injury turn him into?
Post-accident, these reports describe him as a changed man, suggesting that the injury had transformed him into a surly, aggressive alcoholic who was unable to hold down a job. 4
How far did the rod go in the Gage?
The rod penetrated Gage's left cheek, tore through his brain, and exited his skull before landing 80 feet away. 1. Gage not only survived the initial injury but was able to speak and walk to a nearby cart so he could be taken into town to be seen by a doctor.
Where was the Gage's iron tamping rod used?
On September 13, 1848, the then-25-year-old Gage was working as the foreman of a crew preparing a railroad bed near Cavendish, Vermont. He was using an iron tamping rod to pack explosive powder into a hole.
What was the resultant change in Gage's personality?
The resultant change in Gage’s personality — when he went from being well-liked and professionally successful to being “fitful, irreverent, and grossly profane, showing little deference for his fellows” and unable to keep his job — is widely cited in modern psychology as the textbook case for post-traumatic social disinhibition.
How big is the iron bar that was blown through the skull?
Imagine the modern-day reaction to a news story about a man surviving a three-foot , 7-inch, 13½-pound iron bar being blown through his skull — taking a chunk of his brain with it.
What happened to Phineas Gage?
The case of Phineas Gage has been of huge interest in the field of psychology and is a largely speculated phenomena. Gage suffered a severe brain injury from an iron rod penetrating his skull, of which he miraculously survived. After the accident, Gage’s personality was said to have changed as a result of the damage the frontal lobe of his brain.
Why is the Gage case so famous?
Gage’s case is famous in the field as it shows the resilience of the human brain and illustrates how certain areas of the brain have different functions and contribute to our personality.
What happened to Gage after he was thrown on his back?
After the incident, Gage was thrown onto his back from the force of the iron rod and had some brief convulsion of the arms and legs. Within a few minutes however, Gage was able to get himself up, speak and walk with small assistance to a nearby cart so he could travel into town.
How did Gage prepare the Rutland and Burlington Railroad?
On September 13th, 1848, when Gage was 25 years old, he was working in Cavendish in Vermont, leading a crew which were preparing the Rutland and Burlington Railroad by blasting rocks to make a roadbed. This was done by using an iron tamping rod to pack the explosive powder into a hole.
When did Gage die?
When Gage died in 1861 , no autopsies were performed until his skull was later recovered by Harlow years later. The brain damage which caused the significant personality changes were presumed to have involve the left frontal region of the brain.
Why is the Gage case important?
Gage’s case is important in the field of neuroscience. The reported changes in his behaviour post-accident is strong evidence for the localisation of brain function, meaning that specific areas of the brain are associated with certain functions.
Where did Gage work after the accident?
Four years after his injury, Gage moved to Chile and worked in taking care of horses and being a stagecoach driver.
Where did Phineas work?
According to Dr. Harlow, Phineas appeared at Barnum's American Museum in New York City, worked in Jonathan Currier’s livery stable at the Dartmouth Hotel (Hanover, NH), and drove coaches and cared for horses in Valparaiso, Chile.
What does the story of Phineas need to be filled out with?
What Phineas’ story does need is to be filled out with descriptions by people who actually saw him and described what he did and how he behaved.
Why is Gage a fairground freak?
Similarly, these stories turn Gage into a fairground freak because it is in such places that freaks are or were once seen.
How big was Phineas' tamping iron?
The tamping iron was 3 feet 7 inches long and weighed 13 1/2 pounds. It was 1 1/4 inches in diameter at one end (not circumference as in the newspaper report) and tapered over a distance of about 1-foot to a diameter of 1/4 inch at the other. The tamping iron went in point first under his left cheek bone and completely out through the top of his head, landing about 25 to 30 yards behind him. Phineas was knocked over but may not have lost consciousness even though most of the front part of the left side of his brain was destroyed. Dr. John Martyn Harlow, the young physician of Cavendish, treated him with such success that he returned home to Lebanon, New Hampshire 10 weeks later.
How long did Gage work for Currier?
In fact, from early in 1851 until just before he died nine years later, Gage seems to have worked at the one occupation, although in two places: in Currier's livery stable and coach business at the Dartmouth Inn for 1 1/2 years, and in Chile in a similar capacity for nearly seven more. There we know he drove stage coaches. Before then we know he was barely well enough to do a full day's work on his parent's farm until June of 1849, just well enough to travel to Boston in November of that year, and was still described in 1850 as failing in bodily powers. Hence, the maximum time he could have travelled around New England or been with Barnum's Museum would seem to have been about a year. We know nothing about the quality of his work for Currier or that in Chile, or to what extent he was able to support himself. This has not prevented the fabrication of employment histories somewhat at variance with one another: for example, in one he is totally aimless, in another he makes a lot of money from exhibiting himself but dies penniless in an institution. No one notices that his mother said he was anxious to work after he recovered his health in 1859.
Why did Gage's mother tell Harlow he was anxious to work?
Similarly, Gage's mother told Harlow that he used to make up stories of his adventures to entertain his small nephews and nieces.
Where did Phineas exhibit himself?
Harlow says, for example, that Phineas exhibited himself in the larger New England towns and was with Barnum's American Museum in New York City for a time. These remarks are frequently elaborated into a Gage who drifts around aimlessly and is not interested in working or, if interested, is incapable of holding a job.
Why was Phineas Gage important?
The case of Phineas Gage allowed researchers and psychologists to investigate and study the hypothesis that the frontal lobe, one of the four main regions of the brain that is located in the front of the head, is involved in emotional regulation, decision making, and executive planning.
What is the story of Phineas Gage?
Learn about Phineas Gage, the accident that caused him to have personality changes, and how he greatly influenced the field and practice of neuropsychology. Create an account.
How did Phineas Gage die?
He went to work in New Hampshire as a stable hand and then as a coach driver in Chile. After moving around quite a bit, Phineas Gage died in 1860 following a series of seizures which were likely a result of his accident. 4:09.
How old was Phineas Gage when he was on the railroad?
In 1848, 25-year -old Phineas Gage was a foreman on the Rutland and Burlington Railroad where it was his job to prepare the ground for future train tracks.
How did Gage survive the accident?
Right after the accident, he sat up, climbed into a wagon, and asked for medical assistance. While Gage survived the accident with the ability to speak, think, and remember, his personality reportedly changed so much that he became too difficult to work with and he could not hold a steady job or stick to any plan.
What was Gage's personality before his accident?
Psychological Injuries. Before his accident, Gage was said to be a very calm, mild mannered and quiet person. He was a hard worker and got along with everyone. After the accident, he was described as irritable, easily angered, and irresponsible.
How big was the iron rod that Gage pierced?
On September 13, Gage was packing holes with gunpowder when the powder detonated. It caused an iron rod that was 3 feet 7 inches long and 13 ½ pounds to fly through the air and pierce through his head. The rod entered through his lower left jaw and exited through the middle of his head.
Who is Phineas Gage?
But this rural town of just over a thousand people can claim a remarkable historical figure: Phineas Gage. Gage was a young construction foreman who suffered a gruesome accident that changed the history of brain science. In 1848, while blasting through rock to build the new railroad, an explosion sent a 3-foot, ...
What happened to Phineas Gage?
In 1848, Phineas Gage suffered a gruesome accident. BIasting through rock to build a new railroad in Ver mont, an explosion sent a 3-foot, 13-pound iron rod straight through his skull. Remarkably,
How far did the iron rod go in the skull of Gage?
In 1848, while blasting through rock to build the new railroad, an explosion sent a 3-foot, 13-pound iron rod up through his cheekbone and out the top of his skull. The tamping rod landed 80 feet away, " smeared with blood and brain .". Remarkably, Gage lived for another 11 years.
Where did Phineas Gage live?
Margo Caulfield, director of the Cavendish Historical Society, shows Anne Strainchamps and Steve Paulson the location of Phineas Gage's accident in Cavendish, Vermont.
What was the Gage case?
Here was a case of severe damage to the left frontal lobe, followed by a dramatic personality shift. It seemed to prove the point once and for all.
What is the significance of Gage's story?
Over the years, scientists have interpreted Gage’s story in different ways. At first, he was seen as a triumph of human survival. Then for decades he became a textbook case for post-traumatic personality change. More recently, Gage’s case has been interpreted as a story of resilience.
Did Gage work on the railroad?
Some families just cannot handle a patient like that.". Gage was unable to work on the railroad, but he still needed a job. For a while, he made money by exhibiting himself around New England as a curiosity, showing off the holes in his head and his famous tamping iron.
What happened to Phineas Gage?
While using an iron rod to tamp explosive powder into a hole, the powder ignited and sent the 43-inch long rod hurtling upward. The rod pierced through Gage’s cheek, passing though the frontal lobe of his brain before exiting the top of his skull and landing approximately 80 feet away.
What is Phineas Gage's impact on psychology?
So what makes him so significant in psychology? His brain injury was shocking and the result impact on his personality quickly became one of the most famous case studies in psychology and neuroscience.
How much of Gage's brain was damaged by the tamping rod?
One 1994 study suggested that both prefrontal cortices were affected, while a 2004 study indicated that the damage was limited to the left frontal lobe. In 2012, a new study estimated that approximately 11-percent of Gage’s frontal lobe was destroyed and that 4-percent of his cerebral cortex was impacted.
How did Gage die?
Gage died in 1860 following a series of epileptic seizures, just 12 and a half years after his accident. In 1866, Harlow requested that the family exhume the body . The skull was removed and sent to Harlow, along with the iron tamping bar that had been in Gage’s possession at the time of his death. Today, both the skull and the iron rod can be seen at Harvard Medical School’s Warren Anatomical Museum.
How far did the rod go through Gage's skull?
The rod pierced through Gage’s cheek, passing though the frontal lobe of his brain before exiting the top of his skull and landing approximately 80 feet away. Amazingly, Gage not only survived the accident, he also went on to become one of the earliest and most famous cases in the then just emerging field of neurology.
What does Harlow say about Gage?
In Harlow’s descriptions of Gage after the accident, he suggests that Gage would often make plans but fail to carry them out and that many of his friends described his personality as greatly changed, to the point that they felt he was “no longer Gage.”.
When was Phineas Gage's second photo taken?
The second known photo of Phineas Gage came to light in 2010. The image was in the possession of members of Gage’s family. Like the previously seen portrait, Gage is shown proudly holding the tamping iron that so dramatically altered his life.
Phineas Gage's Accident
The Effects of Gage's Injury
- Popular reports of Gage often depict him as a hardworking, pleasant man prior to the accident. Post-accident, these reports describe him as a changed man, suggesting that the injury had transformed him into a surly, aggressive heavy drinker who was unable to hold down a job.5 Harlow presented the first account of the changes in Gage's behavior following the accident. Wh…
Severity of Gage's Brain Damage
- In a 1994 study, researchers utilized neuroimaging techniques to reconstruct Phineas Gage's skull and determine the exact placement of the injury. Their findings indicate that he suffered injuries to both the left and right prefrontal cortices, which would result in problems with emotional processing and rational decision-making.7 Another study conducted in 2004 used three-dimensi…
Phineas Gage's Impact on Psychology
- Gage's case had a tremendous influence on early neurology. The specific changes observed in his behavior pointed to emerging theories about the localization of brain function, or the idea that certain functions are associated with specific areas of the brain.10 In those years, neurology was in its infancy. Gage's extraordinary story served as one o...
What Happened to Phineas Gage?
- After the accident, Gage was unable to continue his previous job. According to Harlow, Gage spent some time traveling through New England and Europe with his tamping iron to earn money, supposedly even appearing in the Barnum American Museum in New York.3 He also worked briefly at a livery stable in New Hampshire and then spent seven years as a stagecoach driver in …
A Word from Verywell
- Gage's accident and subsequent experiences serve as a historical example of how case studies can be used to look at unique situations that could not be replicated in a lab. What researchers learned from Phineas Gage's skull and brain injury played an important role in the early days of neurology and helped scientists gain a better understanding of the human brain and the impact t…