Learn · TED

Talk6 min

What happens when you remove the hippocampus?

Sam Kean · TED

Watch At TED

About

When Henry Molaison (now widely known as H.M.) cracked his skull in an accident, he began blacking out and having seizures. In an attempt to cure him, daredevil surgeon Dr. William Skoville removed H.M.'s hippocampus. Luckily, the seizures did go away — but so did his long-term memory! Sam Kean walks us through this astonishing medical case, detailing everything H.M. taught us about the brain and memory. [Directed by Anton Bogaty, narrated by Addison Anderson].

The talk

  1. What happens when you remove the hippocampus? 6 min · TED's player

Credits and licence

Institution
TED
Department
TED-Ed
Speaker
Sam Kean
Year
2014
Level
For everyone
Language
English
Subjects
Medicine and health, Psychology and the brain, History
Source
TED
Licence
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, as TED states it. Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions. TED's terms
Attribution
TED Talks are licensed by TED under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International and are shown here in TED's own player, as TED's usage policy asks.
Who can watch
TED gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Teens profiles and older, judged from what the source says about it. How courses are placed