Phineas Gage Courses

Phineas Gage (1823–1860) was an American railroad worker who suffered a tremendous, unimaginable brain injury from a tamping iron accident in 1848 when he was working on the railroad. The accident involved the tamping iron (which was the size and shape of a large spear) being shot through Gage's skull and out of his head. Amazingly, Gage survived, with some permanent damage and personality changes. Gage's accident and subsequent recovery became an important case study in neuroscience, as it was the first documented case of brain trauma and proved the importance of the brain's frontal lobe. Before Gage's accident, it was believed that mental functions, feelings and behaviors were located throughout the brain. After Gage's accident and survival, it became clear that the injury to the prefrontal cortex (at the front of the brain) was responsible for the varying personality changes that Gage experienced. This famous case of Phineas Gage, even though it happened over 150 years ago, is still extremely important in helping to advance the field of neuroscience. New imaging and analytical techniques are allowing modern-day researchers to delve even further into the intricacies of the nervous system, including determining how exactly the prefrontal cortex controls our behavior.