Famous Case Studies of History By Jacob Umans and Meenu Johnkutty
Though in the modern era, neuroscience is becoming increasingly reliant on digital means to obtain data (as described in the new technology section of the journal), case studies have a lasting legacy in neuroscience. From ancient times to the present, case studies have given neuroscientists new means to understand the brain. Up to the advent of neuroimaging devices, studying patients with brain damage has been the primary means for neuroscientists to gain knowledge of the brain’s inner workings. One such famous case study was conducted by Pierre Paul Broca in the mid-1800s. Broca wrote in the Bulletin de la Société Anthropologique, as translated by Dr. Christopher Green, “whenever a question was asked of [the patient Broca studied], he would always reply tan, tan” (2003). Although Broca noted that the man’s intelligence seemed normal, he found that the patient (referred to simply as Tan by Broca) had significant speech deficits. While Tan was still alive, Broca had no means to discover the exact deficit causing Tan’s issue. However, upon Tan’s death, Broca examined his brain. He noted “The frontal lobe of the left hemisphere was soft over a great part of its extent; the convolutions of the orbital region, although atrophied, preserved their shape; most of the other frontal convolutions were entirely destroyed” (Green, 2003). From this data, Broca suggested that the frontal lobe lesion he discovered caused the patient’s speech deficit. Eventually, other scientists began to confirm Broca’s hypothesis. This area of the brain, presently referred to as Broca’s area, is known to be implicated in speech production. Furthermore, Broca’s discovery that the lesion only appeared on the left hemisphere proved to be significant--this discovery provided evidence that the brain’s two hemispheres perform different functions. In specific, the left hemisphere is implicated in speech production. Later studies have provided support to the idea that the left hemisphere is dominant for speech in most individuals, which has become common knowledge in neuroscience. Another case study which has provided invaluable to the study of the relationship between the mind and the brain is the story of Phineas Gage, a foreman who fell victim to an explosion which drove a