Wilder Penfield

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Neuropsychological profile – Wilder Penfield

Born in Spokane, Washington, Penfield studied at Princeton (Litt B 1913) before winning a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford where he studied neuropathology (BA 1913, MA & BSc 1920), later studying anatomy dissection in Edinburgh. He then gained a medical degree from John Hopkins University (MD 1918) and whilst there conducted a project that showed that gum arabic could partly replace blood in dogs suffering experimental hemorrhagic shock. Penfield has been referred to as the “Greatest living Canadian”, being made a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1967 and inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 1994.

Penfield was the first director of McGill University’s Montreal Neurological institute. Penfield asserted that a neurologists specialised study of the brain can go hand in hand with a wider contemplation of the human condition an so inscribed on the façade of the Montreal Neurological Institute are Penfield’s words, “The problem of neurology is to understand man himself”.

Penfield worked with his colleague, Herbert Jasper to treat patients with severe epilepsy by destroying nerve cells in the brain where the seizure originated. Before the operation the brain would be stimulated with electrical probes while the patient was still conscious so that he could observe the patient’s response. During the process patient’s were also able to recall memories in vivid detail. By conducting this procedure, Penfield could target the correct area of the brain and at the same time map the brain to show connections between the brain and the organs/limbs of the body. Penfield and Jasper published ‘Epilepsy and the Functional Anatomy of the Human Brain’ in 1951. Penfield debated until his death whether there was any scientific basis for the existence of the human soul.

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