Kathleen Taylor (biologist)

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Kathleen E. Taylor
NationalityBritish
Alma mater University of Oxford
Stirling University
AwardsFirst prize, THES/OUP Science Essay competition and THES Humanities and Social Sciences Writing Prize
Scientific career
Fields Neuropsychology, Physiology, Psychology
Institutions University of Oxford, Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics
Thesis Computational modelling of the contribution of posterior parietal cortex to saccadic eye movements. (1999)

Kathleen E. Taylor is a popular science author and a research scientist in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics at the University of Oxford. In July 2012 [1] she was appointed as a Science Fellow of the Institute for Food, Brain and Behaviour. [2]

Contents

Education

Taylor attended the University of Oxford where she studied physiology and philosophy. [3] She obtained a master's degree in psychology from Stirling University, and received her doctorate in computational neuroscience from the University of Oxford. [3]

Research

Taylor performed postdoctoral research in the areas of neuroimmunology and cognitive neuroscience. [3] She is a neuroscientist at the University of Oxford and works out of the university's Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics. [3] [4] She performs research in the areas of physiology, psychology and the neuroscience of belief. [3] [5]

Published work

In 2003 Taylor won first prize in both the THES/OUP Science Essay competition and the THES Humanities and Social Sciences Writing Prize. [6] [7]

Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control (2004), her first book, was "highly commended" and runner-up in the 2005 Times Higher Education Supplement Young Academic Author Award, and also made it to the shortlist for the 2005 MIND "Book of the Year Award". [3] [8] The book also made it to the longlist of the 2005 Aventis "Science Book Prize", where it was described as containing "elegant and accessible prose". [8] [9]

Cruelty: Human evil and the human brain (2009) examined human cruelty, from the points of view of biology and sociology. [10]

The Brain Supremacy (2012) uses recent examples from scientific literature and the media to explore how techniques such as fMRI function and how they could apparently be useful for thought identification. The book gives an overview of the latest advances in neuroscience while also looking at the practical and ethical side of new technologies. [11] Taylor peers into the future and looks at how all the advances in neuroscience in its social and ethical context could possibly affect human behavior and impact peoples' daily lives. [12] [13]

The Fragile Brain (2016) explains dementia, what is known about its causes, its effects on victims, their families, and society, and ongoing research looking for effective treatment and prevention. [14]

Related Research Articles

Brainwashing is the concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques. Brainwashing is said to reduce its subject's ability to think critically or independently, to allow the introduction of new, unwanted thoughts and ideas into their minds, as well as to change their attitudes, values, and beliefs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neuroscience</span> Scientific study of the nervous system

Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system, its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, developmental biology, cytology, psychology, physics, computer science, chemistry, medicine, statistics, and mathematical modeling to understand the fundamental and emergent properties of neurons, glia and neural circuits. The understanding of the biological basis of learning, memory, behavior, perception, and consciousness has been described by Eric Kandel as the "epic challenge" of the biological sciences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Physiology</span> Science regarding function of organisms or living systems

Physiology is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out chemical and physical functions in a living system. According to the classes of organisms, the field can be divided into medical physiology, animal physiology, plant physiology, cell physiology, and comparative physiology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cognitive neuroscience</span> Scientific field

Cognitive neuroscience is the scientific field that is concerned with the study of the biological processes and aspects that underlie cognition, with a specific focus on the neural connections in the brain which are involved in mental processes. It addresses the questions of how cognitive activities are affected or controlled by neural circuits in the brain. Cognitive neuroscience is a branch of both neuroscience and psychology, overlapping with disciplines such as behavioral neuroscience, cognitive psychology, physiological psychology and affective neuroscience. Cognitive neuroscience relies upon theories in cognitive science coupled with evidence from neurobiology, and computational modeling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Churchland</span> Canadian-American analytic philosopher

Patricia Smith Churchland is a Canadian-American analytic philosopher noted for her contributions to neurophilosophy and the philosophy of mind. She is UC President's Professor of Philosophy Emerita at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where she has taught since 1984. She has also held an adjunct professorship at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies since 1989. She is a member of the Board of Trustees Moscow Center for Consciousness Studies of Philosophy Department, Moscow State University. In 2015, she was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Educated at the University of British Columbia, the University of Pittsburgh, and Somerville College, Oxford, she taught philosophy at the University of Manitoba from 1969 to 1984 and is married to the philosopher Paul Churchland. Larissa MacFarquhar, writing for The New Yorker, observed of the philosophical couple that: "Their work is so similar that they are sometimes discussed, in journals and books, as one person."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human brain</span> Central organ of the human nervous system

The brain is the central organ of the human nervous system, and with the spinal cord makes up the central nervous system. The brain consists of the cerebrum, the brainstem and the cerebellum. It controls most of the activities of the body, processing, integrating, and coordinating the information it receives from the sense organs, and making decisions as to the instructions sent to the rest of the body. The brain is contained in, and protected by, the skull bones of the head.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neuroscientist</span> Individual who studies neuroscience

A neuroscientist is a scientist who has specialised knowledge in neuroscience, a branch of biology that deals with the physiology, biochemistry, psychology, anatomy and molecular biology of neurons, neural circuits, and glial cells and especially their behavioral, biological, and psychological aspect in health and disease.

John Frederick Stein is a British physiologist. He is a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, and holds a professorship in physiology at the University of Oxford. He has research interests in the neurological basis of dyslexia.

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UCL Neuroscience is a research domain that encompasses the breadth of neuroscience research activity across University College London's (UCL) School of Life and Medical Sciences. The domain was established in January 2008, to coordinate neuroscience activity across the many UCL departments and institutes in which neuroscience research takes place. In 2014, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to the UCL neuroscientist John O'Keefe. In two consecutive years 2017 and 2018, the Brain Prize, the world's most valuable prize for brain research at €1m, was awarded to UCL neuroscientists Peter Dayan, Ray Dolan, John Hardy, and Bart De Strooper.

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<i>Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control</i> Book by Kathleen Taylor

Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control is a 2004 popular science book explaining mind control, which is also known as brainwashing, thought reform and coercive persuasion, by neuroscientist and physiologist Kathleen Taylor. It explains the neurological basis for reasoning and cognition in the brain, and proposes that the self is changeable, and describes the physiology of neurological pathways. It reviews case studies including Patty Hearst, the Manson Family, and the mass murder/suicide of members of Peoples Temple at Jonestown, and compares the techniques of influence used by cults to those of totalitarian and communist societies. It lays out a model FACET – Freedom, Agency, Complexity, Ends-not-means, and Thinking – which she believes can be used to negate the influence of brainwashing techniques.

Hanna Damasio is a scientist in the field of cognitive neuroscience. Using computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, she has developed methods of investigating human brain structure and studied functions such as language, memory, and emotion, using both the lesion method and functional neuroimaging. She is currently a Dana Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience and Director of the Dana and David Dornsife Cognitive Neuroscience Imaging Center at the University of Southern California.

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References

  1. "IFBB appoints new Science Fellow Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine ," Institute for Food Brain and Behaviour website, 19 July 2012. Accessed 29 March 2015.
  2. "INSTITUTE FOR FOOD, BRAIN AND BEHAVIOUR, registered charity no. 517817". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Taylor, Kathleen E. (July 2006). "Intergroup atrocities in war: a neuroscientific perspective". Medicine, Conflict and Survival. 22 (3): 230–244. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.140.7673 . doi:10.1080/13623690600772592. ISSN   1743-9396. PMID   16961124. S2CID   494446.
  4. Staff (12 April 2005). "Evil influence is all washed up – Education". The Times . Times Newspapers Ltd. p. Public Agenda 8.
  5. Szimhart, Joseph (July–August 2005). "Thoughts on thought control". Skeptical Inquirer . 29 (4). Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal: 56–57.
  6. Taylor, Kathleen (8 November 2002). "Is imagination more important than knowledge? Einstein". Times Higher Education. TSL Education Ltd. Retrieved 2 November 2008.
  7. Taylor, Kathleen (2004). Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control. Oxford University Press. Front matter. ISBN   978-0-19-920478-6.
  8. 1 2 "Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control – By Kathleen Taylor – Longlisted, General Prize 2005". The Royal Society. royalsociety.org. Archived from the original on 10 June 2008. Retrieved 1 November 2008.
  9. Staff (2005). "Aventis Prizes 2005 – Special Reports". The Guardian . Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 2 November 2008.
  10. , review, The Guardian, 4-18-2009
  11. Yuhas, Daisy. "MIND Reviews: The Brain Supremacy," Scientific American MIND, 14 Feb. 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  12. "The Brain Supremacy: Notes from the Frontiers of Neuroscience," review in Kurzweil Accelerating Intelligence newsletter, 1 Nov. 2012. Accessed 29 March 2015.
  13. "The Brain Supremacy Notes from the frontiers of neuroscience Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine ," publisher's notes, 25 Oct. 2012. Accessed 29 March 2015.
  14. , Review, Nature , 12-10-2016