BIOL 1F25 Lecture Notes - Mcgill University Health Centre, Brenda Milner, Long-Term Memory
19 May 2013
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Document Summary
Different types of memory exist and are stored differently. Certain regions of the brain are more important for specific types of memory. First evidence that memory processes are localized in the human brain: Dr. w. penfield neurosurgeon at montreal neurological institute. 1940s using electrical stimulation of brains of human patients undergoing surgery to relieve epilepsy. Elicited flashbacks in some patients only on stimulation of temporal lobe. Studied h. m. a patient whose hippocampus had been surgically removed from both temporal lobes to control seizures. H. m. was a 27 year old assembly line worker and suffered from untreatable seizures for more than 10 years. Removal of the medial portion of temporal lobes greatly reduced seizures; experienced devastating memory loss and could not form new long term memories. Able to retain long term memory from before surgery, and his short term memory was also intact.
