the face of phineas gage
just a quick and not-so-serious one...
apparently a daguerrotype of a person i've found fascinating for years has turned up: phineas gage, a railroad blasting-gang foreman from vermont who survived an 1848 worksite accident that blew a 3'7" iron rod through his head, with fairly few aftereffects. it's nice to be able to see his face; look here.
gage is famous for his accident and survival, and for the personality changes he's reported to have shown afterwards (though see here for some criticism of the reporting). his case has been absolutely foundational to theorizing about personality and behavior as brain-based phenomena. gage is reported to have become irreverent, profane, obstinate, moody and undeferential after the accident - which has led to a lot of high-flown inferences about the alleged role of the frontal lobes (through which the rod passed) as the seat of discipline, emotion, and decision-making. gage's story was involved to some degree in the popularization of lobotomies and other kinds of brain surgery.
i've always been a bit skeptical of any such theorizing based on gage. not only do irreverence and a lack of deference seem like good things to me, they (and the rest of the described changes) seem to me absolutely understandable results of surviving having an iron bar blown through your head. trying to attribute them to the site of the injury seems like so much phrenology to me.
apparently a daguerrotype of a person i've found fascinating for years has turned up: phineas gage, a railroad blasting-gang foreman from vermont who survived an 1848 worksite accident that blew a 3'7" iron rod through his head, with fairly few aftereffects. it's nice to be able to see his face; look here.
gage is famous for his accident and survival, and for the personality changes he's reported to have shown afterwards (though see here for some criticism of the reporting). his case has been absolutely foundational to theorizing about personality and behavior as brain-based phenomena. gage is reported to have become irreverent, profane, obstinate, moody and undeferential after the accident - which has led to a lot of high-flown inferences about the alleged role of the frontal lobes (through which the rod passed) as the seat of discipline, emotion, and decision-making. gage's story was involved to some degree in the popularization of lobotomies and other kinds of brain surgery.
i've always been a bit skeptical of any such theorizing based on gage. not only do irreverence and a lack of deference seem like good things to me, they (and the rest of the described changes) seem to me absolutely understandable results of surviving having an iron bar blown through your head. trying to attribute them to the site of the injury seems like so much phrenology to me.