This legend took a metal bar through the brain that took out 4% of his cerebral cortex and still retained the ability to move, speak, and live his life. The behavioral changes that occurred after his accident have fascinated neuroscientists for centuries and still remain a fascinating insight into the function of the prefrontal cortex today. 

If you have any comments, questions, concerns, queries, or complaints, please email me at [email protected] or DM me at @NeuroscienceAmateurHour on Instagram. Citations and relevant papers below: 

O’Driscoll, K., Leach, J., “‘No longer Gage’: an iron bar through the head, early observations of personality change after injury to the prefrontal cortex, BMJ (1998). doi: 10.1136/bmj.317.7174.1673a

Siddiqui, S., Chatterjee, U., Kumar, D., Siddiqui, A., Goyal, N., Neuropsychology of prefrontal cortex, Indian Journal of Psychiatry, Volume 50, Issue 3 (2008). doi: 10.4103/0019-5545.43634

Harlow, JM, Passage of an iron rod through the head. Boston Med Surg Journal. (1848)

Harlow JM, Recovery from the passage of an iron bar through the head, Publ Mass Med Soc, (1868). 

Hamilton, J., Why Brain Scientists are Still Obsessed with the Curious Case of Phineas Gage, NPR, Weekend Edition Sunday (2017). 

Demnasio, H., Grabowski, T., Frank, R., Galaburda, AM., Damasio, AR., The Return of Phineas Gage: Clues about the Brain from the Skull of a Famous Patient, Science, Vol. 264, Issue 5162 (May 20, 1994). 

Van Horn, JD., Irimia, A., Torgerson, C., Chambers, M., Kikinis, R., Toga, A., Mapping Connectivity Damage in the Case of Phineas Gage, PLoS ONE, Volume 7, Issue 5 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0037454

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