Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit
Encyclopedia
The Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit is a branch of the UK
Medical Research Council
, based in Cambridge
, England
. The CBSU is a world-leading centre for cognitive neuroscience, with a mission to improve human health by understanding and enhancing cognition and behaviour in health, disease and disorder. Established in 1944 as the MRC Applied Psychology Unit, it is one of the largest and most long-lasting contributors to the development of psychological theory and practice.
The CBSU has its own Magnetic Resonance Imaging
(MRI, 3T) scanner on-site, as well as a 306-channel Magnetoencephalography
(MEG) system and a 128-channel Electroencephalography
(EEG) laboratory.
The CBSU is now an internationally leading centre for research in the cognitive sciences and neurosciences, with close links to clinical neuroscience research in the University of Cambridge Medical School. Over 140 scientists, students, and support staff work in research areas such as Memory, Attention, Emotion, Speech and Language, Development and Aging, Computational Modelling and Neuroscience Methods. With dedicated facilities available on site, the Unit has particular strengths in the application of neuroimaging techniques in the context of well-developed neuro-cognitive theory.
1944-45
Frederic Bartlett
1945-51
Norman Mackworth
1951-58
Donald Broadbent
1958-74
Alan Baddeley
1974-97
William Marslen-Wilson 1997-2010
Susan Gathercole
2011-
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Medical Research Council
Medical Research Council (UK)
The Medical Research Council is a publicly-funded agency responsible for co-ordinating and funding medical research in the United Kingdom. It is one of seven Research Councils in the UK and is answerable to, although politically independent from, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills...
, based in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The CBSU is a world-leading centre for cognitive neuroscience, with a mission to improve human health by understanding and enhancing cognition and behaviour in health, disease and disorder. Established in 1944 as the MRC Applied Psychology Unit, it is one of the largest and most long-lasting contributors to the development of psychological theory and practice.
The CBSU has its own Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Magnetic resonance imaging
Magnetic resonance imaging , nuclear magnetic resonance imaging , or magnetic resonance tomography is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to visualize detailed internal structures...
(MRI, 3T) scanner on-site, as well as a 306-channel Magnetoencephalography
Magnetoencephalography
Magnetoencephalography is a technique for mapping brain activity by recording magnetic fields produced by electrical currents occurring naturally in the brain, using arrays of SQUIDs...
(MEG) system and a 128-channel Electroencephalography
Electroencephalography
Electroencephalography is the recording of electrical activity along the scalp. EEG measures voltage fluctuations resulting from ionic current flows within the neurons of the brain...
(EEG) laboratory.
The CBSU is now an internationally leading centre for research in the cognitive sciences and neurosciences, with close links to clinical neuroscience research in the University of Cambridge Medical School. Over 140 scientists, students, and support staff work in research areas such as Memory, Attention, Emotion, Speech and Language, Development and Aging, Computational Modelling and Neuroscience Methods. With dedicated facilities available on site, the Unit has particular strengths in the application of neuroimaging techniques in the context of well-developed neuro-cognitive theory.
List of Directors
Kenneth CraikKenneth Craik
Kenneth James Williams Craik was a philosopher and psychologist who studied philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and received his doctorate from Cambridge University in 1940...
1944-45
Frederic Bartlett
Frederic Bartlett
Sir Frederic Charles Bartlett FRS was a British psychologist and the first professor of experimental psychology at the University of Cambridge. He was one of the forerunners of cognitive psychology...
1945-51
Norman Mackworth
Norman Mackworth
Norman H. "Mac" Mackworth is a British psychologist and cognitive scientist known for his pioneering work in the study of boredom, attention, and vigilance; the Mackworth Clock test has been used since the 1940s in the study of vigilance....
1951-58
Donald Broadbent
Donald Broadbent
Donald Eric Broadbent FRS was an influential English experimental psychologist. His career and his research work bridged the gap between the pre-Second World War approach of Sir Frederic Bartlett and its wartime development into applied psychology, and what from the late 1960s became known as...
1958-74
Alan Baddeley
Alan Baddeley
Alan David Baddeley FRS, CBE is a British psychologist. He is professor of psychology at the University of York. He is known for his work on working memory, in particular for his multiple components model.-Education:...
1974-97
William Marslen-Wilson 1997-2010
Susan Gathercole
Susan Gathercole
Susan Gathercole is the Unit Director at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit. She is a research psychologist, best known for her studies into working memory deficits in children...
2011-