Talk:Henry Molaison

Living

If this happened in the 50s - is HM still alive? Zafiroblue05 03:53, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

Hi there,

HM is indeed still alive. The most recent article I know that has been written on him is a review by Brenda Milner: PMID 16122569.

- Vaughan 13:38, 21 January 2006 (UTC)

Yeah...I think he's still alive. See here. =D Jumping cheese ^Contact 04:57, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

"Henry G. Molaison, 82, of Windsor Locks, CT died on Tuesday 2 dec 2008.

Seizures?

Does HM at least no longer suffer from seizures? --Abdull 19:08, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, the surgery was largely successful in controlling his seizures; even today, surgery is sometimes the only option to control intractable epilepsy.

-Just1n cas3 01:22, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

no such thing as language production or comprehension or not, say/can say any no matter what and any is ok. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lyhendl (talk • contribs) 22:58, 2 September 2018 (UTC)

confused

In an NPR interview this morning HM clearly understood that he was incapable of making short term memories, although he can answer questions. The claim is that he cannot pass short term memories to long term ones, but his own awareness of his condition is a long term memory, formed after the accident. What's the explanation? It surprised me that, for example, HM wasn't in a constant state of "WTF? I can't remember anything, what's wrong with me?".MotherFunctor 23:50, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

The surgery did not remove H.M.'s entire hippocampus (the brain structure thought to be critical for forming new long-term memories), this may be why he was able to know something about his condition.

Just1n cas3 01:22, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

ethics

Another important point that needs to be adressed here is the ethical issues surrounding this case, especially in light of how neurological procedures used to be performed in the 1950's. A.L. 70.52.112.6 01:29, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

At no point, does anyone suggest HM was a Moron after the surgery, just the opposite. And he did consent, for years he consented, every time he consented. He just kept forgetting he consented. The court did appoint a guardian, who was both related to and, at the time, directly involved in HMs care. Do you know who the court would be sued into paste for giving guardianship to? A cousin who lives nearby by gave zero shits about HM for years. Lived right by the nursing home, and yet the reporter doesn't mention how the cousin regularly visiting, or even that said nursing home had even the remotest clue there was a cousin nearby.68.107.134.203 (talk) 07:15, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

Books

I'm trying to recall the name of a book about memory that was mostly about H.M. Is there a list of books about H.M somewhere? Arvindn (talk) 23:22, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Try this. [1] Feezo (Talk) 02:21, 16 June 2008 (UTC)

The film Memento

I was told by my professor that the film/story Memento was in part inspired by HM's story. Not sure where this would be sourced or whether it should be mentioned in the article.74.179.135.40 (talk) 12:24, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Duplicate info

I removed the following paragraph from the "Contributions to science" section because it basically repeated the information in "History" and didn't discuss HM's contributions per se:

Since the age of 10, the patient HM suffered from increasing epileptic seizures. Eventually the seizures became so intense and frequent that by the age of 27 his doctors suggested removing parts of the brain that were thought to be responsible for his disorder. In 1953, the surgeon Scoville performed brain surgery on HM's medial temporal lobes. Regarding the exact areas of surgery, Scoville & Milner (1957) noted: “bilateral medial temporal lobe resection was carried out, extending posteriorly for a distance of 8 cm from the midpoints of the tips of the temporal lobes, with the temporal horns constituting the lateral edges of resection” (p. 107). HM recovered from the operation, which eased his epileptic seizures to a manageable degree. However, the surgery had induced serious side-effects, which were first described by Scoville & Milner (1957) as “a complete loss of memory for events [...], together with a partial retrograde amnesia for the three years leading up to his operation” (p. 108). Furthermore, they found that “early memories are seemingly normal and there is no impairment of personality or general intelligence” (p. 108).

--David Iberri (talk) 21:37, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

No he is not alive anymore. he died some time before. His brain is being sliced for experimentation. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 138.246.8.193 (talk) 09:50, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Tower of Hanoi issue

Note: The final box at 2001 on the timeline at http://homepage.mac.com/sanagnos/corkin2002.pdf appears to contradict this final statement - "Xu and Corkin show that H.M. and another severely amnesic patient are unable to learn the Tower of Hanoi puzzle, thereby correcting a long- standing misconception that this task a measure of nondeclarative memory"

The preceding comment was inserted into the article by 78.151.92.9 (talk · contribs). I am moving it to this talk page where it properly belongs. Looie496 (talk) 21:15, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

Is it ethical to continue calling Henry Gustav Molaison as "HM ptient"?

Henry Gustav Molaison had a sad history but that has contributed to the development of the modern theories about the memory. His identity was protected along his life and his codename before his death in 2008 was 'HM'. But now, when he has died and his name is known, I believe that as a form of respect to Henry Gustav Molaison, his famous codename must be changed to his real name because he was a human, not a animal of study.

So I propose:

- All sentences in this article about he must have his name, avoiding the codename HM.

- The title of the article should be "Henry Gustav Molaison (HM patient)".

Thanks. --Afrodriguezg (talk) 14:42, 14 April 2012 (UTC)

See below Egg Centric 22:00, 27 May 2012 (UTC)

I have moved this article per WP:BRD

We have his identity.

He was a human being.

He gets an article under his own name Egg Centric 22:00, 27 May 2012 (UTC)

Thank you. --Afrodriguezg (talk) 20:27, 2 June 2012 (UTC)

So, should we change all the "HM" to "Molaison"? I say certainly. The only reason anyone called him "HM" was anonymity. Moot point now, and it just looks stupid. It's like referring to a guy as John Doe after he's identified. Wikipedia should use up-to-date info. Any objection? InedibleHulk (talk) 10:10, 6 September 2012 (UTC)

Not really, but i didn't know his real name until I clicked on this article. I had a hard time finding it, as I had only read about him in books as HM. GouramiGirl (talk) 22:55, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

I noticed something weird, maybe it's like this for others, too. Googling (no quotes) "HM patient" and "HM disorder" get me this article, and it treats "Henry Molaison" as a bolded synonym. But "HM memory" gets me HM, lead and all, despite it not really existing anymore. The term "memory" isn't highlighted there. It's like the engine is trying to remember instead of search. InedibleHulk (talk) 02:53, 8 July 2014 (UTC)

Daily life

What was his life like after the surgery? Did he have a job? A family? Did he require special care? Did he spend all his time being examined by psychiatrists? Grover cleveland (talk) 15:03, 21 January 2013 (UTC)

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Wiki Education assignment: Hidden Figures-Neuroscience through Diversity

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 17 January 2024 and 29 April 2024. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Avfread25 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Avfread25 (talk) 19:34, 21 January 2024 (UTC)