On Mon, 22 Jan 2001, Jeff Bartel wrote:
> A few weeks ago we discussed using case studies of people with various
> types of brain damage to teach physiological psychology (especially in
> General Psychology classes). Out of curiousity, which examples do you
> tend to use? I can think of a couple obvious ones like H.M. (or Clive
> Wearing) when discussing the hippocampus (though I typically cover these
> in the memory chapter instead), individuals that have had strokes that
> damage Broca's or Wernicke's areas, and, of course, our beloved Phinneas
> Gage.
>
> Are there others you (and the students) find particularly interesting?
A few that I use:
Reeves, A. , & Plum, F. (1969). Hyperphagia, rage, and dementia
accompanying a ventromedial hypothalmic neoplasm. Archives
of Neurology, 20, 616-24.
This is an example of the ventromedial hypothalamic syndrome in
an unfortunate human. From a starting weight of 1l9 lb, she
gained 1 lb a day for two months. Besides the classic features of
the VMH syndrome of overeating, obesity, and aggression, she
showed diabetes mellitus and insipidus, and fever.
The Case of the Frozen Addicts (1996)
by J. William, M. D. Langston, Jon Palfreman
Brain damage to the dopamine system in the brain caused by a
toxic batch of synthetic heroin, producing severe Parkinson's
disease.
Lavie, P. et al (1984). Localized pontine lesion: near total
absence of REM sleep. Neurology, 34, 18-20
Lavie, P. (1990). Penile erections in a patient with nearly total
absence of REM: A follow-up study. Sleep, 13, 276-278
Case of an Israeli soldier with a shrapnel injury to his
brainstem. Aside from becoming a lawyer and having an almost
total absence of REM sleep, his functioning was normal.
and one where the nature of the brain disorder has never been
identified:
McMurray, G. (1950). Experimental study of a case of
insensitivity to pain. Archives of Neurology and
Psychiatry, 64, 650-667.
Baxter, D., & Olszewski, J. (1960). Congenital universal
insensitivity to pain. Brain, 83, 381--
Thse papers report the case of an otherwise normal and
intelligent university student (at McGill), profoundly
insensitive to pain except for a brief period just before her
death at age 28. Autopsy results were negative.
-Stephen
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Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661
Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lennoxville, QC
J1M 1Z7
Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at:
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