patient H.M.

E537886

case study subject human neurological patient

Patient H.M. (Henry Molaison) was a famous neurological case study whose profound memory loss after brain surgery provided crucial insights into how human memory is organized in the brain.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Henry Gustav Molaison	1
Patient H.M.	1
patient H.M. canonical	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T5660426 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: patient H.M.
Context triple: [Brenda Milner, studied, patient H.M.]

A. Brenda Milner
Brenda Milner is a pioneering neuropsychologist whose groundbreaking research on memory and the brain, particularly through studies of patient H.M., helped establish the field of cognitive neuroscience.
B. Phineas Gage
Phineas Gage was a 19th-century American railroad worker who survived a severe brain injury from an iron tamping rod, becoming a famous case study in neuroscience and the relationship between brain function and personality.
C. Fred Gage
Fred Gage is an American neuroscientist renowned for his pioneering work demonstrating that the adult human brain can generate new neurons, fundamentally reshaping understanding of brain plasticity.
D. Hermann Ebbinghaus
Hermann Ebbinghaus was a pioneering German psychologist best known for his experimental studies of memory and the formulation of the forgetting curve and spacing effect.
E. Jean-Dominique Bauby
Jean-Dominique Bauby was a French journalist and editor of Elle who, after being left almost completely paralyzed by locked-in syndrome, authored the memoir "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" by blinking his left eye.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: patient H.M.
Target entity description: Patient H.M. (Henry Molaison) was a famous neurological case study whose profound memory loss after brain surgery provided crucial insights into how human memory is organized in the brain.

A. Brenda Milner
Brenda Milner is a pioneering neuropsychologist whose groundbreaking research on memory and the brain, particularly through studies of patient H.M., helped establish the field of cognitive neuroscience.
B. Phineas Gage
Phineas Gage was a 19th-century American railroad worker who survived a severe brain injury from an iron tamping rod, becoming a famous case study in neuroscience and the relationship between brain function and personality.
C. Fred Gage
Fred Gage is an American neuroscientist renowned for his pioneering work demonstrating that the adult human brain can generate new neurons, fundamentally reshaping understanding of brain plasticity.
D. Hermann Ebbinghaus
Hermann Ebbinghaus was a pioneering German psychologist best known for his experimental studies of memory and the formulation of the forgetting curve and spacing effect.
E. Jean-Dominique Bauby
Jean-Dominique Bauby was a French journalist and editor of Elle who, after being left almost completely paralyzed by locked-in syndrome, authored the memoir "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" by blinking his left eye.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (48)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	case study subject ⓘ human ⓘ neurological patient ⓘ
ageAtSurgery	27 ⓘ
birthName	Henry Gustav Molaison ⓘ linked to: patient H.M.
brainDonatedTo	science ⓘ
brainSectionedAt	The Brain Observatory, University of California, San Diego ⓘ
dateOfBirth	1926-02-26 ⓘ
dateOfDeath	2008-12-02 ⓘ
demonstrated	dissociation between declarative and procedural memory ⓘ hippocampus is critical for forming new declarative memories ⓘ role of medial temporal lobe in memory consolidation ⓘ
ethicalNote	identity kept confidential as H.M. during his lifetime ⓘ
hasAlias	H.M. ⓘ Patient H.M. ⓘ linked to: patient H.M.
identityRevealed	after his death his full name was made public ⓘ
impactOnField	founded modern cognitive neuroscience of memory ⓘ influenced theories of memory systems ⓘ
knownFor	contributions to understanding human memory ⓘ severe anterograde amnesia ⓘ
medicalCondition	anterograde amnesia ⓘ epilepsy ⓘ partial retrograde amnesia ⓘ
memoryDeficit	inability to form new long-term episodic memories ⓘ limited retrograde memory for events before surgery ⓘ
memoryPreserved	procedural memory ⓘ short-term memory ⓘ working memory ⓘ
nationality	American ⓘ
participatedIn	mirror-tracing task experiments ⓘ perceptual learning experiments ⓘ
placeOfBirth	Manchester, Connecticut, United States ⓘ linked to: Manchester, Connecticut
placeOfDeath	Windsor Locks, Connecticut, United States ⓘ linked to: Windsor Locks, Connecticut
postmortemStudy	high-resolution brain imaging and sectioning ⓘ
residence	Hartford, Connecticut, United States ⓘ nursing home in Connecticut ⓘ
showedInExperiments	improved motor skills without conscious recollection of training ⓘ
studiedBy	Brenda Milner ⓘ Suzanne Corkin ⓘ neuroscientists worldwide ⓘ
subjectOf	books on memory and neuroscience ⓘ numerous scientific papers ⓘ
treatedBy	William Beecher Scoville ⓘ
underwentProcedure	bilateral medial temporal lobe resection ⓘ surgical removal of amygdala tissue ⓘ surgical removal of large portions of hippocampus ⓘ surgical removal of surrounding medial temporal cortex ⓘ
yearOfSurgery	1953 ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Brenda Milner → studied → patient H.M. ⓘ

Henry Molaison → hasAlias → Patient H.M. ⓘ

subject linked to: patient H.M.

linked to: patient H.M.

Henry Molaison → birthName → Henry Gustav Molaison ⓘ