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Phineas Gage: Severe Brain Injuries

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Phineas Gage: Severe Brain Injuries
Phineas Gage is considered to be one of the severe brain injuries. Gage suffered from personality changes after the brain injury. Gage was injured when excavating rocks to create a path for railroad track. Gage and other employees were injured by rail roads during the construction work. Gage was later treated after the accident as he his brain had been damaged. The accident caused damaged to brain structures and doctors argued that Gage started behaving differently after the accident (Damasio, Grabowski &Frank, 1994).
The Phineas Gage accident helped explain the role of the brain in cognitive functions. The accident revealed how the brain areas support cognitive functions. There are various brain areas that support cognitive functions. For example, the left frontal region helps in personality development. After the accident doctors examined the skull to see the lesion that caused personality change. The lesion was found in the left frontal region. The lesion affected personality development and led to loose of personality. Also, during the …show more content…
There are various cells in the cerebrum that are responsible for memory. Old people experience loose of memory because the cells responsible for memory are worn out. Also, the nerves do not release neurotransmitters. This makes it hard for the brain cells to carry information from one part of the brain to another. Also, people who have been injured in an accident experience loss of memory. This is because the brain cells are damaged during the accident. The hippocampus is responsible for memory processes. It helps transfer information from short tem memory to long term memory. When the brain is injured the hippocampus is affected and this affects memory process. This makes it difficulty for people to transfer information from the short term memory to long term memory. The study showed that the hippocampus is important in memory processing (Damasio, Grabowski &Frank,
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