Phineas Gage is among one of the earliest known survivors of a major brain injury. Gage’s brain was severely injured upon working on a railroad near the town of Cavendish, Vermont. With the occurrence of the injury, Gage should have experienced not only major bodily damage, but also severe mental complications. After the incident, Gage barely escaped death, struggling to survive with a large hole in his head. This wasn’t the only issue observed with Gage after the accident. He had undergone a series of major personality throughout the course of his life shortly after the accident.
On September 13th, 1848, Phineas Gage, along with his crew, was working on a railroad construction project, clearing boulders, to make a path for the Rutland and Burlington Railroad company (Costandi, 2006). Clearing out the boulders required drilling deep into the center of the boulders first. Then the holes were packed in with …show more content…
The damage brought to Gage’s frontal cortex had caused an inhibition in his social skills, resulting in inappropriate or altered behavior. Stated by his wife and other close friends, “He is fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity…manifesting but little deference for his fellows…” (Costandi, 2006). These changes in Gage’s personality showed no resemblance of his personality before the accident. The direct cause of these personality changes was due to the damage the tamping iron had brought upon his brain. The way the damage to Gage’s brain caused a personality change can be seen similarly to the process of a modern day frontal lobotomy. Lobotomy is a term used for a neurosurgical operation that involves severing connections in the brain’s prefrontal cortex as a treatment for schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and other mental illnesses (Lewis,