Why Brain Scientists Are Still Obsessed With The Curious Case Of Phineas Gage

[Captain Obvious]

I remember reading about this guy's story some time back, it's kind of... fascinating.

Like during the accident he was picking up pieces of his brains.

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-s...f-phineas-gage

It took an explosion and 13 pounds of iron to usher in the modern era of neuroscience.
In 1848, a 25-year-old railroad worker named Phineas Gage was blowing up rocks to clear the way for a new rail line in Cavendish, Vt. He would drill a hole, place an explosive charge, then pack in sand using a 13-pound metal bar known as a tamping iron.
But in this instance, the metal bar created a spark that touched off the charge. That, in turn, "drove this tamping iron up and out of the hole, through his left cheek, behind his eye socket, and out of the top of his head," says Jack Van Horn, an associate professor of neurology at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.
Gage didn't die. But the tamping iron destroyed much of his brain's left frontal lobe, and Gage's once even-tempered personality changed dramatically.
"He is fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity, which was not previously his custom," wrote John Martyn Harlow, the physician who treated Gage after the accident.

[Dr. Who]

I'm not sure why this is still a scientific oddity. People with frontal lobe injuries suffer from judgmental and emotional issues in my experience. The frontal lobes control both emotion and judgment. Anger issues and inability to control finances are common in people with frontal lobe injuries. They often need financial guardians and supervision.

[donttread]

I'm not sure why this is still a scientific oddity. People with frontal lobe injuries suffer from judgmental and emotional issues in my experience. The frontal lobes control both emotion and judgment. Anger issues and inability to control finances are common in people with frontal lobe injuries. They often need financial guardians and supervision.

Some stroke victims can lose memories so specific as the names of vegitables and appear otherwise fine .Some TBI's can carry on a conversation with you at the corner store then get lost walking the block home.
The brain is a fascinating place but a place that may dictate our behaviors far more than "free will".

[MisterVeritis]

There is a version of Alzheimer's that destroys the neurons in the frontal lobe. It kills the person in less than ten years. The "symptoms" are similar.