Public Lectures

Hebb & Cattell: The Genesis of the Concepts of Fluid
and Crystallized Intelligence

Dept. of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics
University of Oxford
June 2014

Hebb diveded intelligence into Intelligence A, the development of direct intellectual power, by neural maturation, and Intelligence B, the establishment of routine modes of response to common problems, or of perceptual and conceptual modifications leading to qualitative modifications of behaviour. Cattell developed the concepts of "crystallized" and "fluid" intelligence. This talk examines the ideas of Hebb and Cattell on intelligence, their correspondence, and how the following sentence came about: "Hebb has independently stated very clearly what constitutes two thirds of the present theory".

History of Medical Sciences Seminar Series (Video)

Why Study the History of Neuroscience?

History of Medical Sciences Seminar Series
Dept. of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics
University of Oxford
June 2014

What is history? Why should we study the history of neuroscience? This presentation emphasizes the importance of studying and preserving the history of neuroscience. It introduces the Oxford living history of neuroscience website and provides an example of historical research (Hebb and Cattell).

History of Medical Sciences Seminar Series (video)

Multiple Memory Systems in the Brain:
Integrating Conscious and Unconscious Memory Pathways

Unconscious memory symposium

University of Oxford, UK

27 April 2015

Multiple memory systems include both explicit (Conscious) and implicit (Unconscious) memory networks. What is the neural basis of these memory systems and how are they related?  What happens in neurodegenerative diseases? Do all memory systems fail or do some survive?

The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (video)

The Life and Work of Donald O. Hebb

Dept. of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics

University of Oxford, UK

22 August 2012

Donald O. Hebb is best known for his neurophysiological postulate on learning, which appeared in his book The Organization of Behavior (1949/2002). Neuroscientists associate Hebb with the Hebbian synapse and the Hebbian learning rule, and much of our current understanding of functional neural connections is based on Hebbian concepts. But Hebb's work has also influenced developmental psychology, neuropsychology, perception and the study of emotions. Hebb's work with Wilder Penfield set the stage for the development of neuropsychological testing. His rearing of rats in an enriched environment initiated the ideas that environmental input could alter neural development and that sensory - neural connections were shaped by experience.

Dept. of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics (video)

Le Gros Clark versus Zuckerman:
What Were Their Disagreements?

Special Symposium

History of Understanding of the Cerebral Cortex

University of Oxford, UK

12 May 2015

Sir Wilfred Le Gros Clark published numerous papers in the fields of experimental neurology, anatomy, and physical anthropology. Described as nice, kind, and credited, with a winsome personality and many contributions to science, he was painted much less kindly by his biographer Solly Zuckerman. This presentation examines the work of Le Gros Clark on human evolution and examines how and why the teeth of Australopithecinae became the centre of the public dispute between these two former colleagues.

St. John’s College (video)