Amnesiac - A história de Henry Molaison (H.M.) [Legendado]

Henry Gustav Molaison (26 de Fevereiro de 1926 -- 02 de Dezembro de 2008), anteriormente conhecido como H.M., foi um paciente americano com déficit de memória que teve seu hipocampo, giro hipocampal, e amígdala retiradas cirurgicamente numa tentativa de curar sua epilepsia. Ele foi amplamente estudado desde o fim de 1957 até a sua morte. Seu caso tem um papel muito importante no desenvolvimento de teorias que explicam o link entre o funcionamento do cérebro e a memória, e no desenvolvimento da neuropsicologia cognitiva, um ramo da psicologia que foca no entendimento de como a estrutura e função do cérebro está relacionada com processos psicológicos específicos.

[typing sound]

>>[narrator] Henry Molaison
is not a well man.

A childhood fall has damaged
his brain irreparably.

>>[Henry] Gotcha.
>>Well? Well, what is it?

>>[Henry] Uh, must do something.
>>Hmm.

>>[Henry] Aah!
>>Come on. Henry.

>>[narrator] The accident has
left him with severe epilepsy.

>>Mike! Mike! Henry, come on, boy.
Don't do this.

>>[narrator] By his late 20s,
he's having over 10 fits a day.

>>Henry! Henry! Henry!
Mike! Mike, where are you?

>>[narrator] He can't live alone, can't
drive. The fits can take him at any time.

>>Mike! Mike, where are you?

>>[Dwayne Godwin] The normal electrical activity
of the brain occurs in regular patterns like this.

But during a seizure, abnormal rhythms
are established that wash across the brain,

using the brain's own
communication lines.

The net result is that the
brain loses control of the body,

and it can result in tonic-clonic
seizures, short-term memory loss,

and, in some circumstances, even death.

>>[narrator] Dr. William Beecher Scoville
is an authority on brain disorders.

But Henry Molaison has him stumped.

He's tried every known epileptic
drug, but nothing works.

>>[Scoville] Ah, Henry.

>>[Michael Stevens] Brain science today
is in its infancy, but in the 1950s,

it had barely reached conception.
There was a rough idea of what areas

of the brain were responsible
for which processes,

but the ways they interacted or
worked together weren't really known.

In fact, most of what was known
was only known because of people

who had survived brain injuries, and
so everything new that was attempted

was a step in the dark.

>>[narrator] Scoville is a charismatic,
high-octane risk taker.

To help Molaison, he got
a new and radical idea.

>>[Henry] Story of my life, Doc.
>>[Scoville] I'd like to try something, Henry.

Usually when a brain
short-circuits like yours,

we take out half a region
called the hippocampus.

Only your case is so severe, I'd
like to take out the whole thing.

Now, it's never been done before,
but I've got a hunch it'll work.

>>[Stevens] It's thought that some
epileptic seizures may be caused

by an excess of the neurotransmitter
glutamate in the brain.

Now, when there's too much glutamate,
an excess of calcium is released,

and inside the brain,
that can be very dangerous.

Now, the hippocampus
generates glutamate,

and so removing it should decrease calcium
levels and decrease the frequency of seizures.

>>[Henry] Uh-huh. I don't know,
Doc. Sounds kind of risky.

>>[Scoville] Life is risk, Henry.
And to be honest, with the life you have...

>>[Henry] Aah!
>>[Scoville] Bob!

What have you got to lose?

>>[Susan Lederer] Scoville was
willing to perform this surgery

because his patient was in desperate need.
He had very uncontrolled epilepsy.

He had very little quality of life.

Still, he was playing a little bit fast and loose
because he didn't know what the outcome would be.

>>[narrator] Despite his uncertainty,
Henry agrees to the surgery.

>>[Scoville] Cauterize.

>>[narrator] Dr.Scoville burns
out Henry's entire hippocampus.

Time will tell if he
is being bold...or reckless.

>>[Stevens] In all new surgical
procedures, there's an element of risk,

but there's also a first time when it
must be tried in a human patient.

These days, we would review procedures like
this through institutional review boards,

but in Scoville's time, much more was
left to the discretion of the surgeon.

>>[narrator] After a few days,
the signs are good.

>>[Scoville] Good morning, Henry.
>>[Henry] Hey. Not a single fit, Doc.

>>[Scoville] Tremendous.
Nothing for days now.

Henry, this is Dr. Brenda Milner.
She'll be doing some tests with you today.

>>[Henry] It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am.
Oh, and you're working with the best, you know.

Doc Scoville is an ace.
>>[Scoville] Enjoy your breakfast, Henry.

>>[narrator] Henry's epilepsy seems to be cured.
>>Milner] So, what's the problem?

>>[Scoville] Just wait.

>>[Stevens] Dr. Scoville didn't know
what the hippocampus really did.

I mean, no one did.
The operation was pure trial and error.

What he did know was that less
hippocampus meant fewer seizures.

>>[Scoville] Morning.
>>[Henry] Hey. Steady as a Chevy, Doc.

>>[Milner] That's great.
>>[Henry] Hi, I'm Henry.

Pleased to meet you, ma'am.
>>[Scoville] See what I mean?

>>[narrator] Henry's operation has done
more than affect his epilepsy.

Henry's memories up to the
operation are largely undamaged.

>>[Henry] We went to Florida.
Mom and dad took turns driving.

I had my head out the window, listening
to the engine the whole way down.

>>[Milner] Good. Now, what do
you remember about yesterday?

>>[Henry] Um...

Now -- now I think about it, not a lot.

>>[narrator] But he cannot
create new memories at all.

>>[Milner] How about this morning?

>>[Henry] No, I -- I don't remember.

>>[Milner] Henry, can you tell me
what you just had for lunch?

>>[narrator] Henry Molaison is a tragic
victim and a scientific miracle.

Something has gone wrong with Henry Molaison's brain
during radical surgery to treat his epilepsy.

>>[Scoville] Henry, this
is Dr. Brenda Milner.

>>[Henry] It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am.

It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am.

It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am.

It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am.

>>[narrator] Henry's memory is broken.

But his condition could provide unique
insights into the workings of the human brain.

>>[Stevens] We can experiment on
the brains of mice all we want.

But a mouse cannot tell us
what it's thinking or feeling.

So the uncomfortable truth is that Henry
was a godsend to brain researchers.

By looking at what he could or could not do,
they could figure out how memory works.

>>[Milner] Okay, Henry, I'd like
you to remember the number 273.

Can you do that?
>>[Henry] Got it. Yeah. 273.

>>[Milner] Right.
I'll be back in 15 minutes.

Don't forget -- 273.
>>[Henry] Uh-huh.

>>[narrator] The doctors are fascinated
by what he can and can't recall.

>>[Milner] And the number is?
>>[Henry] 273.

>>[Milner] Right. How did you remember it?
>>[Henry] I just kept thinking about it.

>>[Milner] That's wonderful.

>>[Henry] I'm sorry.
Have we met? I'm Henry Molaison.

>>[Milner] So, what can we say?
Quarter an hour?

>>[narrator] Henry's condition transforms
our understanding of memory.

Our immediate moment-to-moment impressions
of the world are recorded in short-term memory.

>>[Milner] One hour, it goes down to?
>>[narrator] But short-term memories are fleeting.

To remain in the brain, they must be
transferred into long-term memory,

filed away for future recall.

>>[Stevens] We know,
thanks to Henry now,

that the hippocampus is crucial in the
creation of new long-term memories.

It takes memories of what's happening
now and makes them into things

that we can recall about
last week, about last year.

They're not stored
in the hippocampus,

but the hippocampus is very
important in creating them.

>>[narrator] Henry becomes the most
famous patient in neuroscience,

a man imprisoned in the present.

>>[Milner] So, tell me what you
remember about your last fit.

>>[narrator] But for Dr. Scoville,
life moves on.

He, too, must learn to forget.

>>[Lederer] Scoville's surgical
procedure made him world-famous.

But we know from some of his
colleagues that he felt guilty

about the destruction
that he had created.

There is a cost to going first.
It's a cost that someone has to bear.

>>[narrator] Some people will
work with Henry for over 40 years.

>>[Milner] Good morning. I'm Dr. Milner.
>>[Henry] Good morning, ma'am.

>>[narrator] And every morning,

they will have to introduce themselves
to him for the first time.

>>[Henry] Wow. This looks real interesting.
I'm Henry, by the way. Delighted to meet you.

Where is Doc Scoville?
>>[Milner] Well, I'd like to work with you

today if that's okay, Henry.
I'm gonna ask you to take a pencil.

>>[Henry] Mm-hmm.

>>[MIlner] And I just want you to draw
around the star as best as you can, okay?

>>[Henry] All right.
>>[Milner] And I'm gonna take some notes, all right?

>>[Stevens] Tracing a line while
watching your hand in a mirror

is totally counterintuitive. Nobody can
come to that task and get it right away.

What it takes is practice.

>>[Milner] Hi. I'm Dr. Milner.

>>[Henry] Good morning, ma'am.
>>[Milner] You want to take a seat over here?

>>[narrator] Henry has no
idea he's tried this before.

>>[Henry] Hello. I'm Henry Molaison.
>>Hi.

>>[Henry] Well, now,
what have you got here?

>>[narrator] His defective memory prevents him
from remembering his many previous attempts.

Yet each time, Henry's skill improves.

It's as though his body
remembers what his mind cannot.

>>[Henry] Well, that was kind of easy.
[Milner laughs]

>>[narrator] Henry reveals that our
understanding of memory is hopelessly simplistic.

>>[Stevens] There is not
just one type of memory.

There are at least two --
procedural and declarative.

Declarative memories are the things
that you remember remembering --

the places you've been, things you've
said to people, things they've said to you.

>>[Henry] We went to Florida.

>>[Stevens] But procedural memory
allows us to accomplish tasks --

physical ones, like driving
a car or riding a bike.

Now, you can drive in a car and
have a conversation with somebody,

and when you reach your destination,
you will remember the conversation.

That's declarative memory.
But you won't remember all

of the thinking it took to operate the vehicle
and successfully get to your destination,

which is procedural memory.

>>[Henry] Hello, I'm Henry.
>>[Milner] Hi, Henry. Take a seat.

>>[narrator] Once he's learned a new skill,
even years later, Henry never forgets it.

>>[Henry] Well, now, what
have you got here?

>>[Godwin] You could say that Henry's
bad luck was our good luck.

Through Henry, we learned about things
like declarative and procedural memory,

and we learned their importance
in the fight against diseases

like Dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

If you'd ever met Henry,
he wouldn't remember you,

but we'll never forget Henry's
contribution to science.

>>[Henry] Gotcha.
>>[narrator] But every day,

Henry wakes up pretty much the same
27-year-old man who had radical surgery.

>>[Henry] Hello, Dr. Scoville?
Hey, Doc, you in there?

>>[narrator] He remembers his 27th birthday...
>>[Henry] This place has really changed.

>>[narrator] ...but not his 50th.
>>[Henry] How'd he do it so fast?

>>[narrator] ...or even his 70th.
>>[Henry] So, what's this?

>>[narrator] The truth has
to be hidden from him.

His 27 years of memories are
trapped in an old man's body.

>>[Henry] Dr. Scoville! Hey, Doc!
>>[Milner] Henry, Henry, you shouldn't be in here.

But it's -- no, no.
Come on.

Don't worry.
Come on, Henry.

Come on.
Come on.

Now, listen, Henry, don't worry.
I promise tomorrow it'll all be fine, okay?