HM case study - cognitive

Describe the sample of HM’s case study into the impact of the hippocampus on memory.

HM was born in America and he suffered from epileptic fits since 7 years old leading him to being unable to work from 27 years old due to the severity of the fits.

Describe the procedure of HM’s case study into the impact of the hippocampus on memory.

Dr William Scoville, performed surgery on HM in 1953, removing his hippocampus by drilling into HM’s skull and sucking the hippocampus out.

They removed the hippocampus as it was through to be the cause of epileptic seizures.

Describe the results of HM’s case study into the impact of the hippocampus on memory.

HM’s STM was unimpaired but his LTM was damaged. His procedural memory was intact as he improved in the star task as he had to draw a star while looking in the reflection of the mirror.

He was unable to form new episodic memories since he couldn’t remember the name of his caretaker.

State the strength and weakness of the sample of HM’s case study into the impact of the hippocampus on memory.

Strength:

- HM had no mental disorders like schizophrenia and had no issues that would have impacted his brain structure = the results can be representative of most people who don’t have severe mental disorders or brain damage

Weakness:

- However, HM is one individual with unique characteristics; memory loss and deficit could be caused by epilepsy = low generalisability

State the strength and weakness of the procedure of HM’s case study into the impact of the hippocampus on memory.

Strength:

- Reliable as other studies produced similar results that demonstrated the hippocampus’ role in the STM and LTM, this supports its removal as a cause of his severe memory impairments

Weakness:

- However, the case study cannot be replicated due to the uniqueness of HM’s situation. As at the time the hippocampus was thought to impact epilepsy, so due to ethics the hippocampus could not be removed to replicate the study = low reliability

State the strength and weakness of the application of HM’s case study into the impact of the hippocampus on memory.

Strength:

- People learnt about the vital role of the hippocampus in LTM research and knowledge led to effective treatments for epilepsy

Weakness:

- Low ethics = HMs working memory was impaired so he could not form new episodic memories

State the strength and weakness of the ethics of HM’s case study into the impact of the hippocampus on memory.

Strength:

- HM was kept anonymous until his death, he was protected from the public so others could not take advantage of him

Weakness:

- However, HM’s memory was impaired so he could not give informed consent, so the case study goes against ethical guidelines