![]() Phineas Gage was a railroad construction foreman in Cavendish, Vermont. The tamping iron he was using to pack explosive powder detonated. The tamping iron penetrated Gage’s left cheek, ripped into his brain and exited through his skull, landing several dozen feet away. Surprisingly, Gage survived this severe ordeal. He was conscious and started walking within minutes. However, neurologists and psychologists were more interested in his personality change. According to psychologist Malcolm Macmillan, there were changes in Gage’s behavior after the injury. He could not stick to plans and showed little tolerance. As his friends said, Gage was not Gage anymore. By then, Gage was the most famous patient in the field of neuroscience and psychology. His injury and his personality changes taught researches that the complex functions such as decision making and social cognition were largely dependent upon the frontal lobes. The frontal lobes were also responsible for the highest faculties relating to the essence of our humanity such as reasoning abilities. However, experts figured out that personality changes did not last longer than about two to three years. Only few years after his injury, he went back to work as a long distance coach driver and as a worker in a livery stable. Phineas Gage’s incident sparked the interest of many experts, and studies and researches relating to his injury is still being referenced. Current neuroscientists and psychologists refer back to Gage’s incident to relate their work in the present to look for connections.
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