Brenda Milner facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Brenda Milner
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Milner at TEDxMcGill in 2011
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| Born |
Brenda Langford
15 July 1918 Manchester, England
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| Alma mater | Newnham College, Cambridge McGill University |
| Known for | Study of memory and cognition; Work with patient H.M. |
| Spouse(s) |
Peter Milner
(m. 1944; died 2018) |
| Awards |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Neuropsychology |
| Institutions | McGill University, Montreal Neurological Institute |
| Thesis | Intellectual effects of temporal-lobe damage in man (1952) |
| Doctoral advisor | Donald Olding Hebb |
| Doctoral students |
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Brenda Milner (born 15 July 1918) is a British-Canadian neuropsychologist. A neuropsychologist studies how the brain affects our behavior and thinking. Milner has made huge discoveries about how our brains work, especially how we remember things.
She is a professor at McGill University and the Montreal Neurological Institute. Even in her nineties, she continued to work and research. Many people call her the founder of neuropsychology. She has received many awards, including the Balzan Prize in 2009 and the Kavli Prize in 2014. Brenda Milner turned 100 years old in July 2018 and was still helping researchers.
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Early Life and Education
Brenda Langford was born in Manchester, England, on July 15, 1918. Her father was a music critic and teacher. Her mother was one of his students. Even though her parents were musical, Brenda wasn't interested in music.
She studied mathematics and arts at home until she was 8. Then she went to Withington Girls' School. In 1936, she won a scholarship to study math at Newnham College, Cambridge. But she soon realized math wasn't for her. So, she switched to studying psychology. In 1939, she earned her degree in experimental psychology.
One of her teachers, Oliver Zangwill, sparked her interest in the human brain. He showed her how important it was to study people with brain lesions, which are damaged areas of the brain.
During World War II, Brenda helped with war efforts. She created tests to help choose fighter pilots and bomber pilots. Later, she worked on radar systems, which help detect objects.
In 1941, Brenda met her husband, Peter Milner. He was an electrical engineer also working on radar. They married in 1944 and moved to Canada. There, Peter worked on atomic research. Brenda started teaching psychology at the University of Montreal.
In 1949, Brenda earned her master's degree. She then began working on her Ph.D. at McGill University. Her supervisor was Donald Olding Hebb. While studying, she worked with a patient who had memory problems after brain surgery. This caught the attention of Wilder Penfield, a famous brain surgeon.
In 1950, Brenda started working at the Montreal Neurological Institute. She studied young adults with epilepsy who had brain surgery to control their seizures. In 1952, she earned her Ph.D. Her research focused on how brain damage affected thinking.
Discoveries in Memory and the Brain
In 1954, Brenda Milner published an article about the temporal lobes. These parts of the brain are important for emotions, hearing, memory, and speech. Her research showed that damage to the temporal lobes could change how people think and feel. This helped doctors understand the risks of certain brain surgeries.
Milner was a pioneer in studying memory and other thinking skills. She became famous for her work with a patient known as H.M.. He had surgery that removed parts of his hippocampus, a brain area vital for memory.
Milner studied H.M.'s memory problems very carefully. She found that he could not form new memories. He also couldn't remember things from a few years before his surgery. But he could remember older memories and still had normal language and thinking skills.
For example, H.M. learned to draw a star by looking at it in a mirror. He got better at it over three days. But each day, he had no memory of ever doing the task before! This amazing discovery showed Milner that there are different types of memory. She proved that our brains have separate systems for different kinds of learning. She identified two main types: episodic memory (remembering events) and procedural memory (remembering how to do things).
Milner's work with H.M. showed that even with severe memory loss, people could still learn new skills. This led to the idea that our brain has multiple memory systems. She said that seeing H.M. learn perfectly but without knowing it was "an amazing dissociation." It was one of the most exciting moments of her life.
She also studied the frontal lobes of the brain. These areas are important for organizing information. Milner showed that the frontal lobes help us remember things in the right order. She also found that damage to the frontal lobes can make it hard to solve problems.
Milner also helped us understand how different parts of the brain specialize. This is called lateralization. She showed that the left side of the brain is usually in charge of language for most people. This is true even for left-handed people. Her studies proved that brain damage can cause the brain to reorganize itself.
In 2007, Milner donated one million dollars to the Montreal Neurological Institute. She used money from her many awards to help fund brain research.
Recent Research and Life
More recently, Milner has used new brain imaging tools like fMRI and PET scans. These tools help her study brain activity in healthy people. She looks at which brain areas are active during spatial memory tasks (remembering locations) and language use. She also studies how the brains of people who speak two languages (bilingual people) process speech.
Milner continued to teach and research even after her 100th birthday. She is a professor at the Montreal Neurological Institute and McGill University. She works with other researchers, like Denise Klein, to study how our brains learn new languages.
In 2018, Brenda Milner celebrated her 100th birthday in Montreal. She said she plans to keep going for many more birthdays! The Montreal Neurological Institute held a special event to celebrate her achievements. She also took part in a video series to encourage more women to become scientists.
Awards and Honours
Brenda Milner has received many awards for her amazing work in neuroscience and psychology. She is a member of important groups like the Royal Society of London and the National Academy of Sciences. She has also received over 20 honorary degrees from universities around the world.
Some of her notable awards include:
- The Order of Canada (promoted to Companion in 2004)
- The Ralph W. Gerard Prize in Neuroscience (1987)
- The National Academy of Sciences Award in the Neurosciences (2004)
- The National Order of Quebec (promoted to Grand Officer in 2009)
- The Balzan Prize for Cognitive Neurosciences (2009)
- The Kavli Prize in Neuroscience (2014)
- The Pearl Meister Greengard Prize (2011)
- Induction into the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame (2012)
See also
In Spanish: Brenda Milner para niños
