In the winter of 1850, Phineas went to Boston so that the doctors there could see for themselves what doctors look like in 1850, they look like gentlemen or at least they do in oil portraits you would see a row of wise faces satin vests gold watch chains and side mustaches photographs of doctors at work although rare it is difficult to photograph someone or something moving due to the light-sensitive plates that are very slow and a single exposure can take a minute to drop, but the year before Phineas' accident, a Boston photographer named Josiah Hawes set up his camera in an operating room surgical and a daguerreotype which he entitled “third operation using ether anesthesia”. Most of us first encountered Gage in a neuroscience or psychology class, and the lesson of his story was both simple and brutal: the forehead lobes house our highest faculties; they are the essence of our humanity, the physical embodiment of our highest cognitive powers. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay So when Gage's frontal lobes were beaten to a pulp, he transformed from a clean-cut, virtuous foreman into a dirty, scary, sociopathic drifter. As simple as that. This story has had an enormous influence on scientific and popular understanding of the brain. Most uncomfortable is that it implies that whenever people suffer severe damage to their frontal lobes – as is the case with soldiers or victims of stroke or Alzheimer's disease – something essentially human can disappear. Go back Phineas Gage In our time, Phineas Gage is a textbook case for neurology students. or psychology studies his case because it illustrates how the lobes of the frontal cortex the two halves of your brain that meet in your forehead are the seat of executive functions it is your abilities to predict, decide and interact socially unfortunately Phineas does not is not the only person who has suffered damage, the frontal cortex antonio and hanna damasio are renowned brains a husband and wife team of doctors regularly see people who remind them of phineas gage the damasios are renowned brain researchers in hospitals and University of Iowa Clinics and treat patients with the same type of frontal lobe damage that affected Phineas like Phineas, these patients with frontal lobe damage have difficulty making decisions like Phineas with his 1000 pebbles, they do well on logic and math tests but make strange choices in business situations, their emotional responses are unpredictable they seem emotionally out of step with the rest of the world patients who come to Damasio's clinic are not victims explosion accidents their brain injuries usually follow surgery to remove a tumor deep inside the frontal cortex, this type of brain surgery is strictly a last resort to save the patients' lives, because even if the The operation goes well, the risk of side effects is high. Any damage to the frontal cortex can change behavior and personality forever, as the case of Phineas Gage shows. Sometimes cancer surgeons experience many of the same symptoms as Phineas. all have damage to the frontal cortex all have difficulty making decisions about personal or social issues all react with little empathy and seem to find emotion in a