Outskirts Press, INC.

Living the Transformation of Psychology 1960–2020

In nine chapters I describe my role in the dramatic transformation that has taken place in the study of the mind. In the 1980s the scientific study of the human mind was in the hands of a relatively small group of cognitive psychologists who described the mental operations that allowed study of the many tasks humans perform. By 2000 psychologists had been joined by neuroscientists, neural philosophers, robotic engineers, geneticists, and computer scientists in the effort to determine how the brain works. I was one of many swept along in this tidal wave. In the 1980s I was a cognitive psychologist who worked along with neurologists and psychiatrists to explore neuroimaging. Collectively we helped bring the human brain into neuroscience, because it could now be examined in living people as they performed various tasks. My family migrated from Wisconsin to Oregon, back to St. Louis and to New York following my efforts to develop an understanding of the human brain. I describe these trips and the reasons for them. Fortunately my wife and children were more than up for the adventure, and their achievements were an inspiration to me as is documented in this volume. I wrote this volume for two audiences. A smaller number of people care about what happened to me and with whom I interacted over the years. I hope a larger group cares about what has been learned from our efforts about the human mind and brain. I hope both groups enjoy the ride and forgive me for my pride, perhaps inappropriate, about what we have learned and how it can influence what we teach future generations.