Friday, December 12th, 2008

HM, Amnesia, and Memory

Earlier this month, Henry Gustav Molaison, better known in the scientific literature as HM, passed away a the age of 82. Molaison suffered from major seizures, possibly due to a bicycle accident as a child. In 1953, in an effort to treat the seizures, doctors removed portions of HM's medial temporal lobes. Following the surgery, Molaison was unable to form new memories. For the remainder of his life, he participated in many scientific studies of memory and learning, teaching researchers much about the inner workings of the human brain. Following his death, Molaison's brain was removed and will be sent to the Brain Observatory at UCSD to be imaged, dissected, and preserved for future study. In this segment, we'll talk about the next chapter in HM's story, and what the study of his brain after his death might be able to teach future researchers.