Brenda Milner
From Psy3241
Dr. Brenda Milner was born in Manchester, England in 1918. She is a pioneer of the discipline of neuropsychology. Her detailed long-term studies on epilepsy cases of patients before and after have added substantially to the scientific understanding of the structure of the brain. Especially, to the functions of the hippocampus, and the role of the temporal and frontal lobes in learning, memory and speech functions.
Academic Backgound
Dr. Milner received her undergraduate degree at the University of Cambridge in 1939. Her Ph.D. degree was acquired under Dr. Donald Hebb at McGill University in 1952. She joined Dr. Wilder Penfield at the Montreal Neurological Institute in 1950 and published landmark papers with Penfield and Scoville in 1957 and 1958. She is the Dorothy J. Killam Professor of Psychology at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Department of Neurology & Neurosurgery, McGill University.
Accomplishments in the field
Dr. Milner work in the field of neuropsychology includes the study of memory and other cognitive functions in humans. She was the first to study the effects of damage to the medial temporal lobe on memory and systematically described the deficits in the patient HM concerning cognitive neuroscience.
Through a series of landmark studies, Dr. Milner demonstrated that the medial temporal lobe amnestic syndrome is characterized by an inability to acquire new memories while old memories and other cognitive abilities, including language, perception and reasoning are not affected.
Her findings helped establish the importance of cortico-limbic pathways for cognitive memories and cortico-basal ganglia pathways for skills and procedural memories. These studies revealed the differences in episodic and procedural memory. Her research laid the platform for advances in understanding learning in both normal and functionally impaired humans.
The varied body of research by Dr. Milner has had, and continues to have, a major impact on cognitive neuroscience and on clinical neuroscience. Dr. Milner’s studies have direct a correlation to patient care for neurosurgical treatment of patients with brain tumors or epilepsy. Her contribution to understanding memory and language functions, as well as hemispheric lateralization has helped discovered research and therapies for debilitating conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and stroke.
Resources
McPherson, S (2005). Dr. Brenda Milner: 2005 Gairdner Award Winner. Retrieved April 21, 2008, from Bio-Medicine Web site: http://news.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-3/Dr--Brenda-Milner-3A-2005-Gairdner-Award-Winner-12306-1/
McGill University , (2006). Dr Brenda Milner, CC. Retrieved April 21, 2008, from McGill University Web site: http://www.mcgill.ca/about/history/pioneers/milner/
Pausová, V (1998). Interview with Brenda Milner. Retrieved April 21, 2008, Web site: http://www.bic.mni.mcgill.ca/users/tomas/brenda_milner.html
