Neuroscience History: Lobotomies and Phrenology

Lobotomies were always something that I was curious about after reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey.

Lobotomies were a procedure that was used infrequently in the 1940's and 50's.  The surgery was used to treat mentally ill patients by altering their mental state.  This was done by creating an incision in the prefrontal lobe of the brain.  To a neuroscientist that would mean a lot, but many do not know the severity of cutting into the prefrontal cortex.  The prefrontal cortex is responsible for many important functions of the brain which include behavioral development, complex behaviors, and planning.  In other words this part of your brain really affects your behaviors and personality as an individual.  These surgeries cured people by altering their cognitive behavior, but what they really did was render the patient cognitively vacuous.  Overall the surgery was depicted accurately in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Phrenology has always been a subject that interested me since there is a phrenology head in my home.  Phrenology is "a defunct field of study, once considered a science, in which the personality traits of a person were determined by “reading” bumps and fissures in the skull (What Is Phrenology?)."  Phrenology was developed by physician Franz Joseph Gall around 1800, and was a very popular science in the 19th century.  Around 1843 is was called a pseudo science, or a fake science.  But it did have a big influence on Neuroscience.  "Phrenologists believed that the mind has a set of different mental faculties, with each particular faculty represented in a different area of the brain (What Is Phrenology?)." These areas were important in determining peoples mental capacity.  Phrenology is a very interesting aspect of Neuroscience history.

Works Cited

By Commenting You Acknowledge Acceptance of GoodTherapy.org's Terms and Conditions of Use. "Prefrontal Cortex." GoodTherapy.org Therapy Blog. N.p., 18 Aug. 2015. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

"What Is Lobotomy? - Luria Neuroscience Institute." Luria Neuroscience Institute. N.p., 16 Mar. 2012. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

"What Is Phrenology?" Phrenology Lab. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

My Stroke of Insight

My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor is "a brain scientist personal journal."  Jill Bolte Taylor is an American neuroanatomist who suffered a stroke in 1996.  She is a thirty-seven year old Harvard graduate who had a very personal experience with deterioration of her own brain.  Though many people experience such an unfortunate event, its a very eye opening experience when reading it from the point of view of someone who has studied the brain.  Currently I have not started the book, but I did buy it.  When reading this I will pay attention to how she writes compared to Oliver Sacks.  He wrote case studies, while she is writing a personal journal.  Some may wonder how life changing this experience was for Taylor; in which she would respond:

“How many brain scientists have been able to study the brain from the inside out? I've gotten as much out of this experience of losing my left mind as I have in my entire academic career.”

Currently we are fortunate enough to have her still with us, unlike Oliver Sacks, here you can see her Ted Talk:

https://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight

This book will help reveal the terminology and writing style behind Neuroscience literature.

The Case of the Colorblind Painter [An Anthropologist on Mars part 2]

As addressed in an earlier post, Oliver Sacks, a Neuroscientist, writes in a particular style.  Case studies.  The Case of the Colorblind Painter is an example of a case study done by him in his book An Anthropologist on Mars.  So this case study will follow the themes he wrote about in the beginning of his book, adaptation.  The story is very interesting, it is about a painter who went colorblind in an accident and how he adapts to the inevitable changes that come his way.  But what is really important for me is trying to understand how Oliver Sacks formatted his case study, and what type of writing style he used while writing it.

Note: written in first person

The beginning of the case study was a letter, written by the colorblind painter asking for help.  It is important to note that Oliver Sack did not address his actual name, instead he was called Mr. I.  Then Sack goes and describes what he initially believes the painter to be struggling from.  Despite using medical terminology he does this in a way that the everyday person could understand.  In fact it is very easy to read, its not just fact after fact.  It has a nice flow to it that is used in descriptive writing.  Next he explains the impact of color.  Then he goes to meet the client.  Note that whenever he notices that the client says a symptom towards a certain disorder he puts it in parenthesis.  The person explains to Oliver Sack, this has more detail than the letter.  He explains how this condition affects his everyday life.  He then goes into a more emotional way of writing when he writes down how this condition makes Mr. I feel.  Obviously being a painter it really affected him negatively, and you can feel that through the writing.  Eventually there is an adaptation breakthrough as the painter learns how to still be an artist with this condition.  Sack then goes into past studies of people with similar symptoms to Mr. I.  He also explains Goethe's color theory and other studies that could relate to this case.  Sacks then went back to Mr. I and how it was a clear case of cerebral achromatopsia, and explained how his symptoms, and the symptoms for this disorder.  He found a solution to the prognosis but, it didn't eliminate the issue, it just made it more tolerable to live with.  Mr. I cam to terms with his condition after battling for such a long time, he has settled "neurologically and psychologically."  He was able to become a successful black and white painter.  Then Sacks summarizes all that he explained.  Overall it was an interesting read that I feel a lot of artist would enjoy.

Mr. I's vision:

Painting before the accident:

Painting 2 months after accident:

Painting 2 years later: