To celebrate the unearthing of the first known photograph of Phineas Gage, I thought it'd be prudent to talk about him a little bit. Gage was a railroad foreman in the mid 19th century. During an accident a 3 ft. railroad spike was driven through his head, entering right under his left cheekbone and protruding through his skull, obliterating one or both of his frontal lobes. Miraculously he survived without any significant physical or mental impairment. However, prior to the accident Gage was a family man and a good Christian, afterward though, he became physically abusive to his friends and family, began drinking, gambling, and stealing. To the people who once new him, Gage was a wholly unrecognizable person after his accident.
In essence, Gage had his frontal lobe destroyed and, as a result, his entire personality changed. What does the frontal lobe do, then? First off, only mammalian brains have a frontal lobe, further, primates have the largest and most evolutionarily advanced frontal lobes. This part of the brain doesn't reach full maturation in humans until about the age of 25. For instance, onset of schizophrenia, (which typically occurs in the late teens/early twenties is related poor myelination (nerve connection formation) in the frontal lobe). Nuerologists observe that the frontal lobe is primarily responsible for social and existential activity in a human being. Our ability to empathize, recognize proper social conduct, censor our actions and speaking in accordance to the sensitivities of others, making moral choices, anticipate consequences for our actions, form long-term goals and actualizing those goals, and emotional memory. Basically it is the go-to part of the brain for all of our societal living needs.
You can see why, when Gage lost this part of his brain, he became the man he did. So what does Gage teach us about how we view ourselves? I've noticed that people tend to regard the brain organ differently than other organs: for instance, if the heart is removed, then blood will no longer pump, if the lungs are removed, then air will not be taken in, if the frontal lobe is removed, then we become sociopaths. Perhaps the difference in the way regard the former two versus the latter is that the former are autonomic (they occur without our conscious control) whereas when we find ourselves empathizing with someone, we feel we're somehow "doing it".
Does Gage's case study suggest that our capacity for empathy and such is not really something we "do" any more than we "do" cause our blood to pump? This question points to an even bigger and more important one: to what extent can we claim responsibility for any of our mental endeavors or any of our personality traits at all? If it's the case that I could remove certain portions of my brain and thereby effect my personality, then it must be the case that my personality determined by the physical contents of my brain. I am my brain.
This is a classic and rather insoluble problem in philosophy. On the one hand we have a certain sense of responsibility with regards the type of people we are. For instance, I prefer rooms that are painted light blue, this is part of who I am. On the other hand, if the above argument is true, then I could remove some certain part(s) of my brain and find that I no longer prefer rooms that are painted light blue. Take poor Gage's case, he, unfortunately, had the part of his brain removed that caused him to love his wife and family, hence he was no longer able to do so.
Well, all of what I've said so far is true, as far as I can tell (if it isn't then that spells pretty bad news for the nueropharmacuetical industry.) But, that doesn't mean I particularly like it. One caveat is that neurologists have demonstrated that the brain, like muscles, is capable of growing and developing. If one exercises their capacity for empathy then more dendrite and myelein connections tend to form, same with any other basic motor skill development. Who and what you are is not necessarily static, you can develop yourself through mental exercise (or pills, I suppose).
There's still more important things to be written because of Phineas Gage, but this'll do for now.
I wonder if there are other reasons for his sudden change in behavior, directly or indirectly related to the accident. The experience must have been traumatic, and people can sometimes "change" due to single events that are severely disturbing. I also wonder if he had to deal with any pains afterwards that would give him a shorter fuse or make him lose his sense of optimism in daily life.
ReplyDeleteThose are valid considerations. Though, the evidence I've reviewed suggests that Gage became not merely a troubled and irate Gage, but a wholly unrecognizable person. This evidence is anecdotal at best, but I believe satisfactorily convey the idea that Gage underwent a complete transformation of person.
ReplyDeleteI was always fascinated by the story of Gage and the concept of lobotomization as a whole. I always thought, though, that people who had the frontal lobes detached became more "zombie-like" in regards to their emotions or am I simply recalling incorrectly?
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