Milner
Milner, Brenda
He could not update episodes in his life such as remembering a new person. Milner's role was to eluc idate the nature of such memory deficits. Written by: Member of Course Team
In recognition of the eminence of her work and the enormous influence that it has had, she was award ed fellowships of the Royal Societies of London and Canada.
Brenda Milner later had a joint appointment at the Montreal Neurological Institute and McGill Univer sity. Her work ran parallel to that of Wilder Penfield and she was one of the pioneering influences in neuropsychology (i.e. relating the nervous system to behaviour).
Brenda Milner was born in 1918 in Manchester, England. She studied experimental psychology at Cambri dge University.
In 1944, she took up a post at the Institute of Psychology, University of Montreal, Canada. In 1952, she was awarded a PhD for research on the effects of damage to the temporal lobe in humans. She was supervised by Donald Hebb.
Perhaps her most famous patient was HM who suffered a loss of declarative memory as a result of temp oral lobe damage. HM retained the ability of procedural memory (e.g. skill learning).
She made extensive and detailed studies of the brain, cognition and behaviour of patients before and after neurosurgery. Her particular interest was temporal lobe structures such as the hippocampus and their role in memory and language.
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