The Neuro, Brenda Milner, and the origins of cognitive neuroscience
The Montreal Neurological Institute is a research and teaching institute of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada founded in 1934 by neurosurgeon, Dr. Wilder Penfield. Within the MNI is the Montreal Neurological Hospital, a specialized hospital belonging to the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC). Collectively, the Institute and the Hospital, which occupy the same building, are known as The Neuro.
Brenda (Langford) Milner was born in Manchester, England on July 15, 1915. She moved to Canada in 1944 and completed her PhD at McGill under the supervision of Donald Hebb. After her doctorate, Dr. Milner began working as a professor at McGill University and The Neuro and became famous for her work with the patient Henry Molaison, formerly known as H.M., who lost the ability to form long term memories after brain surgery that removed a portion of his right and left temporal lobe. Even though Dr. Milner worked with him for over 30 years, Molaison never remembered her name. However, Dr. Milner’s work demonstrated that he could still form certain types of long term memories.
Dr. Milner demonstrated this by giving Molaison a difficult motor task: trace the outline of a shape reflected in a mirror. This requires moving your hand in the reverse direction of what you would normally do, and, although initially difficult, it is possible to improve with practice. This is just what Molaison did. Although he never remembered having completed the mirror tracing before, his performance improved, showing that he had formed a new memory for motor skills. Through this example, Dr. Milner showed that there are multiple memory systems in the human brain, which revolutionized the study of memory and subsequently neuropsychology.
Dr. Milner’s dedicated work with Molaison was an early example of cognitive neuroscience research, before the field had even been established. An important goal of cognitive neuroscience is linking brain structure to function, as Dr. Milner did by showing that the temporal lobes of the brain play a key role in memory. Studies of patients with damage to brain regions due to surgery or injury continue to be important to achieving this goal, however today researchers have access to a wide variety of non-invasive neuroimaging tools, such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to help them do so. The introduction of these tools in the late 20th century helped grow the fields of cognitive science, neuroscience, and psychology, which eventually came together in 1976 with the birth of cognitive neuroscience.
Although Dr. Milner is turning 100 this year, she is still teaching and working at The Neuro. During her career, Dr. Milner witnessed the introduction of a number of revolutionary technologies at The Neuro, including the first PET machine in Canada, and has watched it become one of the largest neuroscience institutes in the world. The Neuro’s researchers continue to be leaders in cellular and molecular neuroscience, brain imaging, cognitive neuroscience, and the study and treatment of neurological disorders.
Resources to learn more
- The Brain from Top to Bottom: English, French
- The Canadian Encyclopedia - Neuroscience: English, French
- The Canadian Medical Hall of Fame - Brenda Milner: English, French
- Encyclopaedia Britannica - Cognitive Science
