Fwd: [Histmed] 'Language, models and animals in the quest for the physical basis of memory'

[Chris]

forwarding from the Histmed list for wider interest
Cheers
Chris


>Sender: histmed-bounces at listserv.csv.warwick.ac.uk
>
>Monday 18 May 2009
>'Some real stuff: Language, models and animals in the quest for the physical
>basis of memory
>in post-War Britain (1947-1965)
>Dr Fabio De Sio  (Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL)
>
>The talk will tackle an early and largely overlooked chapter of the history
>of experimental brain sciences, namely JZ Young's research for the
>anatomical and physiological basis of learning and memory in the cephalopod
>Octopus vulgaris and the attempt to frame it into a general, cybernetic and
>connectionist model of the memory mechanism. The main focus will be on the
>first two decades of this research (c. 1947-1965), especially on the
>experiments conducted by Young and Brian B. Boycott on visual learning and
>memory. This reconstruction of the early stages of the career of octopus as
>a simple model for "higher" brain functions and of its problematic
>development aims at providing an instance of some epistemological,
>methodological and ideological assumptions underlying contemporary brain
>sciences. More generally, it addresses the issue of the complex and
>multifarious relations between phenomena, observations and general accounts
>in experimental practice.
>
>TIME: 1730-1900 (Doors open/ refreshments at 1715)
>
>VENUE:
>5th Floor Seminar Room
>The Wellcome Building
>183 Euston Road
>London NW1 2BE
>
>Registration not required
>
>Sally Bragg
>Affiliation and Programmes Administrator
>Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine
>      at UCL
>The Wellcome Building
>183 Euston Road
>London
>NW1 2BE
>www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed
>
>Tel: 00 44 (0)20 7679 8103
>Fax: 00 44 (0)20 7679 8194
>
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