Chris Frith facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Chris Frith
|
|
|---|---|
Chris Frith in 2012
|
|
| Born |
Christopher Donald Frith
16 March 1942 |
| Education | The Leys School |
| Alma mater | |
| Spouse(s) | Uta Frith |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | Fyssen Foundation Prize Jean Nicod Prize European Latsis Prize |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions |
|
| Thesis | Individual differences in pursuit rotor and tapping skills (1969) |
| Doctoral advisor | Hans Eysenck |
| Doctoral students |
|
Christopher Donald Frith (born March 16, 1942) is a British psychologist. He is a professor at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London. He also works with the Interacting Minds Centre at Aarhus University in Denmark.
Chris Frith is known for his important research into how our brains work. He studies how we understand our own actions and how we interact with other people.
Contents
Education and Early Work
Chris Frith was born in 1942 in a place called Cross in Hand, Sussex, England. He went to The Leys School in Cambridge. Later, he studied Natural Sciences at University of Cambridge.
After Cambridge, he earned a special diploma in Abnormal Psychology. He then completed his PhD at the Institute of Psychiatry in London. His PhD supervisor was a famous psychologist named Hans Eysenck.
Understanding the Brain
Chris Frith has written many scientific papers. These papers share his discoveries about the brain and mind.
How We Know Our Actions Are Our Own
In 1975, Frith joined a research group that studied schizophrenia. This is a brain condition that can affect how people think and feel. He focused on why some people with schizophrenia might feel that their actions are controlled by outside forces.
Frith suggested that our brain constantly predicts what will happen when we move. For example, when you lift your arm, your brain expects certain feelings. If these predictions match what you actually feel, you know the action was yours. If there's a mismatch, it might feel like someone else is controlling you. This idea helps us understand our "sense of agency," which is knowing that we are the ones doing something.
Brain Imaging and Thinking
In the 1990s, Chris Frith was one of the first scientists to use special brain scans. These scans, like PET and fMRI, show which parts of the brain are active when we think.
He used these scans to study how our brains handle different abilities. These include making choices, being aware of things (consciousness), and understanding what others are thinking (called Theory of Mind).
How Our Minds Interact
Chris Frith also worked with his wife, Uta Frith, who is also a scientist. Together, they helped make "social cognition" a big area of study. Social cognition is about how we think about and interact with other people.
Since 2007, he has worked with scientists at Aarhus University in Denmark. They have shown how groups of people can make better decisions together. They also studied how people adapt their actions when working with others. This research highlights that our minds are shaped not just by our own thoughts, but also by how we interact with other minds.
Some of his former students, like Geraint Rees and Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, have also become important scientists.
Books and Awards
Chris Frith has written several books. One of his books, The Cognitive Neuropsychology of Schizophrenia (first published in 1992), won an award in 1996. He also wrote a popular science book called Making up the Mind: How the Brain Creates Our Mental World (2007). This book won an award in 2008 and was considered for another major science book prize.
In 2022, he co-authored a graphic novel titled Two Heads: Where Two Neuroscientists Explore How Our Brains Work with Other Brains. His book What Makes Us Social?, co-authored with Uta Frith, also received an award in 2024.
Awards and Honors
Chris Frith has received many important honors for his work:
- He became a Fellow of The Academy of Medical Sciences in 2000.
- He was also made a Fellow of The Royal Society in 2000.
- In 2008, he became a Fellow of The British Academy.
In 2009, he received the Fyssen Foundation Prize for his work on how the brain affects behavior. He and Uta Frith also won the European Latsis Prize for their research connecting the mind and brain. In 2014, they received the Jean Nicod Prize for their work on social cognition.
Personal Life
Chris Frith is married to Uta Frith, who is also a well-known developmental psychologist. They have two sons. His brothers are Fred Frith, a guitarist, and Simon Frith, a music expert.
