We started researching the story behind this cutting edge
event in 2010. Among the 11,900 published scientific journals, very little was
documented about the man, his family and the life he led before the
experimental surgery he underwent in 1953. We had the streamed event, an article
written by the grandson of Dr Scoville, who performed the experimental surgery
in 1953 and the published paper co-written by Scoville and fellow scientist
Brenda Milner. Together with the few insights of his family circumstances, his
personality and his timeline, gathered from documentaries and obituaries, we
set about constructing this man known in scientific circles as Patient HM.
Dr Jacopo Annese
Our first port of call in our research process was Dr
Annese. More can be found about
this collaboration here.
Additional Research Collaborators – Professor John Aggleton
Through our work with Dr Annese, we had begun to build our
onstage worlds but there was a limit to what we could create without further
understanding of the day-to-day manifestation of the anterograde and retrograde
memory loss suffered by Henry.
It was at this point that Christopher Stock of Wellcome Trust put us in touch with Professor John Aggleton. A neuroscientist within the department of
Psychology at Cardiff University,
Professor Aggleton was recently made a Royal Society Fellow for his highly influential research revealing the roles of
various brain structures in creating a more comprehensive picture of how
different types of memory are formed and recalled.
As an advisor on our project he was
instrumental in guiding us through some of the essential detail of different
types of memory impairment – in particular he kept us from straying into common
misconceptions in our representation of short term memory, articulating the
definition in psychological terms and making clear that no two amnesics will be
the same. This proved to be invaluable as we began experimenting and developing
a realistic representation of Henry’s condition on stage. Unbeknownst to
Professor Aggleton, his input confirmed for us that we could not feasibly put an
audience into Henry’s shoes and consequently shaped the way in which we
presented Henry and his story to our audiences.
Additional Research Collaborators – Dr Hanna Pickard
Having established some of the biomedical
detail surrounding the case of Patient HM and with ongoing conversations
concerning the manifestation of his condition, more and more ethical questions
emerged. We were aware that many saw Dr Annese’s work as controversial, and
some of the accounts of the original surgery performed in 1953 by Dr William Beacher Scoville painted him
as someone with a propensity to take risks with no concern for his patients. At
the same time, exercises and improvisations we had played with in the rehearsal
room had revealed some potentially exciting scenes which we were unable to
develop without further information.
The Oxford Centre for Neuroethics at Oxford
University aims to address concerns about the effects neuroscience and
neurotechnologies will have on various aspects of human life. We spoke to Dr Hanna Pickard, a Wellcome Trust
Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Neuroethics and also a therapist at
the Complex Needs Service, a NHS Therapeutic Community for people with
personality disorder.
We were particularly interested in areas
surrounding the care and safeguarding of amnesic patients today compared to the
early1950’s, permissions and testing of patients with memory disorders and the
ethical dilemmas posed by streaming a live brain dissection over the internet. These
conversations proved useful in sculpting how we might show the treatment of
Henry at Bickford Health Centre, aiding us in our building of his relationship
with the carers around him and how they might deal with the complicated repercussions
that may arise when a patient does not have the capacity to remember something
that might have occurred less than 5 minutes prior.
As writers of a piece of work inspired by
Henry Molaison, we recognised that, along with the 100 plus scientists who came
to test and retest him during his lifetime, we had some part in capitalising
from his story and in so doing it was essential that we explore the
neuroethical implications of this. With the voice of the neuroscientists who
performed the live brain dissection, directly in our show, and a real desire to
address the potential life he might have led in a mostly imagined strand
dedicated to his life prior to the operation in 1953, it was integral to
achieve balance.
Research Notes
Our raw notes and transcripts from our conversations with research partners can be downloaded from here. Please note these were working documents, and so in places are in note form.
Within the download, you'll find:
- the original transcript of our interview with Dr Jacopo Annese.
- research notes from conversations with Professor John Aggleton around memory loss.
- information and notes sent to Dr Hanna Pickard at The Oxford Centre for Neuroethics.
- information and notes sent to Dr Suzanne Corkin, Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT.
Plus, additional research links can be found here.
Research Notes
Our raw notes and transcripts from our conversations with research partners can be downloaded from here. Please note these were working documents, and so in places are in note form.
Within the download, you'll find:
- the original transcript of our interview with Dr Jacopo Annese.
- research notes from conversations with Professor John Aggleton around memory loss.
- information and notes sent to Dr Hanna Pickard at The Oxford Centre for Neuroethics.
- information and notes sent to Dr Suzanne Corkin, Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT.
Plus, additional research links can be found here.
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