Marcel Kinsbourne is an Austrian-born pediatric neurologist and neuroscientist who was an early pioneer in the study of brain lateralization. He is presently a Professor of Psychology at both The New School

The New School

The New School is a university in New York City, located mostly in Greenwich Village. From its founding in 1919 by progressive New York academics, and for most of its history, the university was known as the New School for Social Research. Between 1997 and 2005 it was known as New School University...

 in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University

Tufts University

Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...

.

Dr. Kinsbourne obtained his D.M. degree at Oxford University in 1963, where he served on the Psychology Faculty before relocating to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in 1967. He has held Professorships in both Neurology and Psychology at Duke University

Duke University

Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...

 and the University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

, and headed the Behavioral Neurology Research Division at the Shriver Center in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

. He also served as Presidents of the International Neuropsychology Society and the Society for Philosophy and Psychology

Society for Philosophy and Psychology

The Society for Philosophy and Psychology is a professional organization in North America that promotes discussion and research at the intersection of philosophy, psychology and cognitive science...

.

Dr. Kinsbourne's considerable body of research involves multiple areas of cognitive neuroscience, including brain-behavior relations; consciousness; imitation; laterality among normal and abnormal populations; memory and amnestic disorders; unilateral neglect; attention and Attention Deficit Disorder; autism

Autism

Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...

; learning disabilities; mental retardation

Mental retardation

Mental retardation is a generalized disorder appearing before adulthood, characterized by significantly impaired cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors...

, and dyslexia

Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a very broad term defining a learning disability that impairs a person's fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read, and which can manifest itself as a difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological decoding, orthographic coding, auditory short-term memory, or rapid...

.

Dr. Kinsbourne was the first to name and systematically describe the condition opsoclonus myoclonus syndrome

Opsoclonus myoclonus syndrome

Opsoclonus Myoclonus Syndrome is a rare neurological disorder of unknown causes which appears to be the result of an autoimmune process involving the nervous system. It is an extremely rare condition, affecting as few as 1 in 10,000,000 people per year. It affects 2 to 3% of children with...

, sometimes called Kinsbourne syndrome in his honor or Dancing eyes syndrome.

Dr. Kinsbourne's latest publication was the Imitation and Entrainment: Brain Mechanisms and Social Consequences. He had also published many others including: The Corpus Callosum as a Component of a Circuit for Selection, How the Senses Combine in the Brain, and Disorders of Mental Development.