In 1953 Henry Molaison, who later became known as patient H.M., underwent an experimental type of neurosurgery in Hartford, Connecticut. The reason for this was that he had suffered from seizures since adolescence and these seizures had become more severe now that he was in his late 20s. Henry recovered quite well from the surgery and the seizures became indeed milder, but this relief came at a severe cost: he had lost the ability to form new memories.
In this PBL case, students must research the mechanisms of memory formation and the relation between brain anatomy and cognition.
Simon J. Büchner studied Cognitive Science and Philosophy in Freiburg and Cognitive Psychology in Amherst, Massachusetts, supported by scholarships from the Baden-Württemberg Foundation and the Fulbright Commission. He then worked in interdisciplinary research projects on human spatial navigation and received a PhD in Psychology from the University of Freiburg. As a graduate student, he was a visiting researcher at Concordia University, Montréal. Dr. Büchner is responsible for the Major Life Sciences at the University College Freiburg. This includes the development of the curriculum, the course offerings per semester, recruiting and supporting Teaching Fellows, as well as thesis supervision.
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