Phineas Gage

The cerebral cortex consists of four lobes, all of which are very fundamental to everyday living. It regulates most convoluted behavior. Phineas Gage had a 4-foot tamping iron plunged into his cheek and come out the top of his head, severely damaging his frontal lobes.

One of the four lobes, the frontal lobe, controls voluntary movement, difficult problem solving, concentration, and organizing messages from the other lobes. Another lobe, the occipital lobe receives and manages visual information. In front of the occipital lobe is the temporal lobe. The temporal lobe, processes information from the ears and nose, regulates emotions and motivation, and enables us to recognition. Sensory information from sense receptors in taste buds, muscles, skin, and joints all over the body are sent to the parietal lobe and registered in the primary somatosensory cortex. It allows you to know your place in space.

Phineas Gage had a freak accident in 1848, which involved frontal lobe damage.

The cerebellum is largely responsible for coordina...

A rotating animation of the human brain showing th...

Animated Brain. The brain is divided into the foll...

"The explosion blew a nearly 4-foot-long taming iron more than an inch thick into his cheek and all the way through the top of his head, severely damaging his frontal lobes"(Morris and Maisto, page 54). He consciously stood up and suffered only few aftereffects. He could not concentrate, had difficulty controlling his emotions and making decisions. "Most neuroscientists agree that personality change especially loss of motivation and ability to concentrate is the major outcome of frontal lobe damage" (Morris and Maisto, page 54).

Colored photo viewed from lateral side.

Illustration showing the position of the parietal ...

The top blue line denotes the central sulcus