TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Sam Kean: What happens when you remove the hippocampus?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

On smtepeber 1st, 1953, William Scoville used a hand crank and a cheap dlril saw to bore into a young man's skull, cutting away vital pieces of his brain and snuckig them out through a metal tube. But this wasn't a scene from a horror film or a gruesome police report. Dr. Scoville was one of the most renowned nunrsoogeures of his time, and the young man was Henry moliosan, the fumoas patient known as "H.M.", whose case provided amazing ihsigtns into how our brains work. As a boy, Henry had cracked his skull in an accident and soon began having seizures, blacking out and losing control of bodily functions. After enduring years of frequent edsioeps, and even dropping out of high school, the desperate young man had turned to Dr. Scoville, a deeivardl known for risky surgeries. Partial lobotomies had been used for decades to teart mental patients baesd on the notion that mental functions were silcrtty liozlecad to corresponding brain areas. Having successfully used them to ruecde seizures in psychotics, Scoville decided to remove H.M.'s hippocampus, a part of the limbic system that was associated with emotion but whose function was unknown. At first glance, the operation had succeeded. H.M.'s szeeirus virtually dpsreaeipad, with no change in pretilosnay, and his IQ even ievrpomd. But there was one problem: His mmoery was shot. Besides losing most of his memories from the previous decade, H.M. was unable to form new ones, forgetting what day it was, repeating comments, and even eating mlplutie meals in a row. When Scoville informed another expert, wdleir Penfield, of the results, he sent a Ph.D student named bnerda Milner to study H.M. at his parents' home, where he now spent his days doing odd chores, and wnhitcag classic movies for the first time, over and over. What she dsroeiecvd through a series of tstes and interviews didn't just contribute greatly to the sutdy of memory. It redefined what memory even maent. One of Milner's findings shed light on the obvious fact that although H.M. couldn't form new memories, he still retained imiarootfnn long enough from moment to moment to finish a sentence or find the bathroom. When Milner gave him a random number, he mganaed to remember it for fifteen minutes by repeating it to himself constantly. But only five minutes later, he forogt the test had even taken place. Neuroscientists had though of memory as monolithic, all of it eilstalsney the same and setord throughout the brain. Milner's results were not only the first clue for the now familiar distinction between short-term and long-term memory, but show that each uses different brain regions. We now know that memory fotamrion involves several septs. After immediate sensory data is tirelmpaory transcribed by neurons in the cortex, it travels to the hippocampus, where special proteins work to strengthen the cortical synaptic connections. If the experience was strong enough, or we recall it periodically in the first few days, the hippocampus then transfers the memory back to the cortex for permanent sotgrae. H.M.'s mind could form the initial impressions, but without a hippocampus to perform this memory ctoidoslonian, they eroded, like messages scrawled in sand. But this was not the only memory dicioitsntn Milner found. In a now famous experiment, she asked H.M. to trace a third star in the narrow space between the ouetinls of two concentric ones while he could only see his paper and pencil through a mirror. Like anyone else performing such an awkward task for the first time, he did hlrirboy. But surprisingly, he improved over repeated trials, even though he had no memory of previous amttetps. His unconscious motor centers remembered what the conscious mind had forgotten. What melnir had discovered was that the declarative memory of names, dteas and facts is different from the procedural memory of riding a bicycle or signing your name. And we now know that prdrceaoul memory relies more on the bsaal ganglia and cerebellum, structures that were intcat in H.M.'s brain. This distinction between "knowing that" and "knowing how" has underpinned all memory research since. H.M. died at the age of 82 after a mostly peaceful life in a nursing home. Over the years, he had been examined by more than 100 neuroscientists, making his the most studied mind in history. Upon his death, his brain was preserved and scanned before being cut into over 2000 individual slices and photographed to form a digital map down to the leevl of individual neurons, all in a live broadcast watched by 400,000 people. Though H.M. spent most of his life fentrotigg things, he and his contributions to our unentriandsdg of memory will be rmmebeeerd for generations to come.

Open Cloze

On _________ 1st, 1953, William Scoville used a hand crank and a cheap _____ saw to bore into a young man's skull, cutting away vital pieces of his brain and _______ them out through a metal tube. But this wasn't a scene from a horror film or a gruesome police report. Dr. Scoville was one of the most renowned _____________ of his time, and the young man was Henry ________, the ______ patient known as "H.M.", whose case provided amazing ________ into how our brains work. As a boy, Henry had cracked his skull in an accident and soon began having seizures, blacking out and losing control of bodily functions. After enduring years of frequent ________, and even dropping out of high school, the desperate young man had turned to Dr. Scoville, a _________ known for risky surgeries. Partial lobotomies had been used for decades to _____ mental patients _____ on the notion that mental functions were ________ _________ to corresponding brain areas. Having successfully used them to ______ seizures in psychotics, Scoville decided to remove H.M.'s hippocampus, a part of the limbic system that was associated with emotion but whose function was unknown. At first glance, the operation had succeeded. H.M.'s ________ virtually ___________, with no change in ___________, and his IQ even ________. But there was one problem: His ______ was shot. Besides losing most of his memories from the previous decade, H.M. was unable to form new ones, forgetting what day it was, repeating comments, and even eating ________ meals in a row. When Scoville informed another expert, ______ Penfield, of the results, he sent a Ph.D student named ______ Milner to study H.M. at his parents' home, where he now spent his days doing odd chores, and ________ classic movies for the first time, over and over. What she __________ through a series of _____ and interviews didn't just contribute greatly to the _____ of memory. It redefined what memory even _____. One of Milner's findings shed light on the obvious fact that although H.M. couldn't form new memories, he still retained ___________ long enough from moment to moment to finish a sentence or find the bathroom. When Milner gave him a random number, he _______ to remember it for fifteen minutes by repeating it to himself constantly. But only five minutes later, he ______ the test had even taken place. Neuroscientists had though of memory as monolithic, all of it ___________ the same and ______ throughout the brain. Milner's results were not only the first clue for the now familiar distinction between short-term and long-term memory, but show that each uses different brain regions. We now know that memory _________ involves several _____. After immediate sensory data is ___________ transcribed by neurons in the cortex, it travels to the hippocampus, where special proteins work to strengthen the cortical synaptic connections. If the experience was strong enough, or we recall it periodically in the first few days, the hippocampus then transfers the memory back to the cortex for permanent _______. H.M.'s mind could form the initial impressions, but without a hippocampus to perform this memory _____________, they eroded, like messages scrawled in sand. But this was not the only memory ___________ Milner found. In a now famous experiment, she asked H.M. to trace a third star in the narrow space between the ________ of two concentric ones while he could only see his paper and pencil through a mirror. Like anyone else performing such an awkward task for the first time, he did ________. But surprisingly, he improved over repeated trials, even though he had no memory of previous ________. His unconscious motor centers remembered what the conscious mind had forgotten. What ______ had discovered was that the declarative memory of names, _____ and facts is different from the procedural memory of riding a bicycle or signing your name. And we now know that __________ memory relies more on the _____ ganglia and cerebellum, structures that were ______ in H.M.'s brain. This distinction between "knowing that" and "knowing how" has underpinned all memory research since. H.M. died at the age of 82 after a mostly peaceful life in a nursing home. Over the years, he had been examined by more than 100 neuroscientists, making his the most studied mind in history. Upon his death, his brain was preserved and scanned before being cut into over 2000 individual slices and photographed to form a digital map down to the _____ of individual neurons, all in a live broadcast watched by 400,000 people. Though H.M. spent most of his life __________ things, he and his contributions to our _____________ of memory will be __________ for generations to come.

Solution

seizures
consolidation
watching
formation
sucking
dates
improved
disappeared
episodes
meant
managed
temporarily
molaison
tests
reduce
forgetting
attempts
september
multiple
steps
strictly
based
discovered
memory
drill
distinction
brenda
intact
storage
daredevil
basal
neurosurgeons
localized
wilder
information
stored
treat
famous
procedural
understanding
remembered
level
milner
forgot
horribly
personality
study
insights
essentially
outlines

Original Text

On September 1st, 1953, William Scoville used a hand crank and a cheap drill saw to bore into a young man's skull, cutting away vital pieces of his brain and sucking them out through a metal tube. But this wasn't a scene from a horror film or a gruesome police report. Dr. Scoville was one of the most renowned neurosurgeons of his time, and the young man was Henry Molaison, the famous patient known as "H.M.", whose case provided amazing insights into how our brains work. As a boy, Henry had cracked his skull in an accident and soon began having seizures, blacking out and losing control of bodily functions. After enduring years of frequent episodes, and even dropping out of high school, the desperate young man had turned to Dr. Scoville, a daredevil known for risky surgeries. Partial lobotomies had been used for decades to treat mental patients based on the notion that mental functions were strictly localized to corresponding brain areas. Having successfully used them to reduce seizures in psychotics, Scoville decided to remove H.M.'s hippocampus, a part of the limbic system that was associated with emotion but whose function was unknown. At first glance, the operation had succeeded. H.M.'s seizures virtually disappeared, with no change in personality, and his IQ even improved. But there was one problem: His memory was shot. Besides losing most of his memories from the previous decade, H.M. was unable to form new ones, forgetting what day it was, repeating comments, and even eating multiple meals in a row. When Scoville informed another expert, Wilder Penfield, of the results, he sent a Ph.D student named Brenda Milner to study H.M. at his parents' home, where he now spent his days doing odd chores, and watching classic movies for the first time, over and over. What she discovered through a series of tests and interviews didn't just contribute greatly to the study of memory. It redefined what memory even meant. One of Milner's findings shed light on the obvious fact that although H.M. couldn't form new memories, he still retained information long enough from moment to moment to finish a sentence or find the bathroom. When Milner gave him a random number, he managed to remember it for fifteen minutes by repeating it to himself constantly. But only five minutes later, he forgot the test had even taken place. Neuroscientists had though of memory as monolithic, all of it essentially the same and stored throughout the brain. Milner's results were not only the first clue for the now familiar distinction between short-term and long-term memory, but show that each uses different brain regions. We now know that memory formation involves several steps. After immediate sensory data is temporarily transcribed by neurons in the cortex, it travels to the hippocampus, where special proteins work to strengthen the cortical synaptic connections. If the experience was strong enough, or we recall it periodically in the first few days, the hippocampus then transfers the memory back to the cortex for permanent storage. H.M.'s mind could form the initial impressions, but without a hippocampus to perform this memory consolidation, they eroded, like messages scrawled in sand. But this was not the only memory distinction Milner found. In a now famous experiment, she asked H.M. to trace a third star in the narrow space between the outlines of two concentric ones while he could only see his paper and pencil through a mirror. Like anyone else performing such an awkward task for the first time, he did horribly. But surprisingly, he improved over repeated trials, even though he had no memory of previous attempts. His unconscious motor centers remembered what the conscious mind had forgotten. What Milner had discovered was that the declarative memory of names, dates and facts is different from the procedural memory of riding a bicycle or signing your name. And we now know that procedural memory relies more on the basal ganglia and cerebellum, structures that were intact in H.M.'s brain. This distinction between "knowing that" and "knowing how" has underpinned all memory research since. H.M. died at the age of 82 after a mostly peaceful life in a nursing home. Over the years, he had been examined by more than 100 neuroscientists, making his the most studied mind in history. Upon his death, his brain was preserved and scanned before being cut into over 2000 individual slices and photographed to form a digital map down to the level of individual neurons, all in a live broadcast watched by 400,000 people. Though H.M. spent most of his life forgetting things, he and his contributions to our understanding of memory will be remembered for generations to come.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
young man	2
procedural memory	2

Important Words

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