The case of Patient M, a soldier injured during the Spanish Civil War, remains a mystery as he started perceiving the world in reverse after being wounded.
In May 1938, Patient M was struck by a gun-launched missile on the Valencian front. The study, titled "Redescubriendo al paciente M: Justo Gonzalo Rodríguez-Leal y su teoría de la dinámica cerebral" published in the journal Neurologia, discussed this extraordinary and peculiar case of brain injury, highlighting Patient M's unique condition of awakening with a reversed perception of reality.
Patient M's Bizarre Brain Injury
Following his survival without requiring surgery or specialized care, the wounded soldier was discovered lying on the floor. However, upon regaining consciousness two weeks later, he began experiencing inverted perceptions in certain situations.
Resting would result in a disconcerting world appearing upside down to him, with objects appearing in triplicate and tinged green. Even his hearing and touch were inverted, causing sounds and sensations to be perceived on the opposite side. This created confusion as his body interacted with a reality opposite to his own.
According to Daily Mirror, military doctor Dr. Justo Gonzalo treated the soldier and was intrigued by this unique case. Tests revealed that the missile had partially damaged the outer layers of his brain towards the back left side.
The 25-year-old Patient M fought on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War and was likely shot by an enemy soldier aligned with Franco's forces. Dr. Gonzalo recognized the potential of this extraordinary case to shed light on the workings of the human brain.
Dr. Gonzalo, who survived the war and continued his relationship with Patient M until his own death in 1986, named the soldier and documented the case extensively, reports El Pais. Recently, his daughter Isabel Gonzalo uncovered her father's archives, which contained numerous documents and photos relating to the remarkable case.
Recalling her encounters with Patient M during his visits to her family home, she described how he would check the time by looking at his wristwatch from any direction.
During the 1930s, scientists held differing views on the brain, with some seeing it as a unified entity and others emphasizing distinct boundaries between brain regions. Dr. Gonzalo proposed an intermediate hypothesis based on his work with Patient M, suggesting the theory of brain dynamics, which posits that the organ functions with different gradients.
Size and Position of Injury Influenced Patient M's Brain Damage
Gonzalo's research on Patient M and others with brain injuries led him to propose that the impact of such injuries depended on their size and location, Science Alert reported. Contrary to the belief that specific functions would be completely destroyed, Gonzalo found that a range of functions was affected, as demonstrated in the case of Patient M.
Gonzalo categorized these effects into three syndromes: central, paracentral, and marginal. The central syndrome involved disruptions across multiple senses, while the paracentral syndrome exhibited unevenly distributed effects. The marginal syndrome affected specific senses by impacting the brain pathways associated with them.
Despite being groundbreaking work based on an extraordinary case, Gonzalo's research is not as widely recognized as it should be. In a new paper, Gonzalo's daughter, Isabel Gonzalo-Fonrodona, collaborated with García Molina to outline the research conducted on Patient M.
The study emphasizes the importance of single case studies in advancing our understanding of brain function and highlights the enduring relevance of Gonzalo's ideas in interpreting Patient M's injuries and his reversed vision.
RELATED ARTICLE: 4 People Who Suddenly Became Geniuses Due to Acquired Savant Syndrome
Check out more news and information about Brain in Science Times.
