Life after brain injuries
Saturday, January 22, 2011 - 13:50
in Psychology & Sociology
Even if victims retain major functions, subtle changes affecting social behavior can leave them changed people.In 1848, a worksite explosion thrust a 13-pound iron pole through the cheek and into the prefrontal cortex of Phineas Gage, a railway construction foreman working in Vermont. The pole, more than an inch thick, rocketed through his skull with such force that it landed 30 yards away, smeared with blood and brain matter.