Broken Brains

Was wir über die Funktionsweise unseres Gehirns wissen, verdanken wir zum großen Teil der Erforschung unnormaler oder geschädigter Gehirne. Schon seit dem 19. Jahrhundert, als sich Mediziner mit unserem wichtigsten Körperorgan zu beschäftigen begannen, lieferten durch natürliche Ursachen oder misslungene Operationen geschädigte Gehirne wertvolle Informationen über dessen Funktionsweise. Bei seiner Recherche trifft Michael Mosley unter anderem auf die Geschichte des Amnesiepatienten Henry Molaisen, der als meisterforschte Person in der Geschichte der Psychologie gilt. (Text: ZDFneo)

Dr Michael Mosley concludes his series exploring the brutal history of experimental psychology by looking at how experiments on abnormal brains have revealed the workings of the normal brain. He meets remarkable individuals like Karen, who suffered from a rare condition - alien hand syndrome - which meant that one of her hands constantly attacked her. And Julia, who seems to have recovered from her stroke - until experiments reveal she is unable to recall the name of any object. Michael explores the case of an amnesiac known for years only by his initials, HM, who became the most studied individual in the history of psychology and whose extraordinary case opened a window on how our memory works. He visits the multi-million dollar centre which has been set up since HM died to map his unique brain down to the level of an individual neuron.