John Morton (cognitive scientist) facts for kids
John Morton is a very important scientist born in 1933. He is known as an emeritus professor, which means he is a retired professor who is still highly respected for his work. He used to lead a special research group at University College London that studied how our brains develop and learn.
He has also received special awards like the OBE and is a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). These awards show how much his work has helped us understand the human mind.
Understanding the Brain
Dr. Morton's research helps us learn how our brains work. He has studied many interesting things, like:
- How we remember events, like what happened yesterday or last year.
- How different types of memory work in our brains.
- What happens when people have problems with their memory.
- How our thinking skills grow as we get older, especially in children.
- How certain brain differences, like autism and dyslexia, develop.
One of his most famous ideas is the logogen model. This model helps explain how our brains recognize words very quickly when we read or hear them. Imagine your brain has a special "file" for every word you know. When you see or hear a word, your brain quickly finds its file!
He also worked with another scientist, Mark H. Johnson, to study how babies learn to recognize faces. It's amazing how quickly babies start to know their parents' faces!
Special Groups He Belongs To
Dr. Morton is a member of the Royal Society. This is a very old and respected group of top scientists in the United Kingdom. Being a Fellow of the Royal Society is a huge honor for any scientist.
Awards and Recognition
Dr. Morton has received many awards for his important work. These awards show how much his research has helped us understand the brain and how people think and learn. Some of his awards include:
- 1988: The President's Award from the British Psychological Society.
- 1990: Became a member of Academiae Europaeae, a group of top European scholars.
- 1997: Became an Honorary Fellow of the British Psychological Society.
- 1998: Received the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire).
- 2000: Became an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience.
- 2001: Became an Honorary Member of the Experimental Psychology Society.
- 2001: Won the Neuronal Plasticity Prize from La Fondation Ipsen.
