The Mind Behind the Hebbian Synapse
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The Mind Behind the Hebbian Synapse ∗ Donald O Hebb Shriya Palchaudhuri
How do neurons orchestrate behaviour? Let us trace our footsteps back to one of the first hypotheses proposing an alliance between the brain and behaviour. This article trace Donald Hebb’s life, and how, in the neurophysiology milieu of the 20th century, he revolutionized the way psychologists and neuroscientists viewed the brain, bringing a unifying concept of the mind with his publication of The Organization of Behaviour. In closing, the legacy of Hebb in the after-years of the monograph is discussed in the context of contemporary discoveries in the realm of neural plasticity and learning that revisit Hebbian concepts.
Shriya Palchaudhuri is a PhD student at the Brain Mind ´ Institute at Ecole Polytechnique F´ed´erale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland in the Laboratory of Synaptic Mechanisms. Her research
Introduction Donald Olding Hebb is a Canadian psychologist most famously known for his unifying theories attempting to understand the physiology of the mind and its experience-driven learning processes. He described his supremely influential monograph, The Organization of Behaviour (1949), as “a general theory of behaviour that attempts to bridge the gap between neurophysiology and psychology, as well as that between laboratory psychology and the problems of the clinic” [1]. It became the groundwork for future scientists attempting to use computational models to understand the cognitive abilities of the mind; and in this regard, he is rightfully called the ‘Father of Neuropsychology’. Hebb’s core postulate that gave the neuroscience world eponymous expressions such as the Hebbian synapse and Hebbian learning rule, were strikingly ahead of his time, and his theories remained untested for long, for want of investigative capabilities at the time. Nevertheless, ∗
involves elucidating plasticity mechanisms involved in emotional learning using ex-vivo and in-vivo electrophysiological and optogenetic tools. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Physiology from Presidency College (now University), Kolkata and Master’s from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
Keywords Hebbian
plasticity,
Hebbian
synapse, learning and memory, long-term roscience,
potentiation,
neu-
neuropsychology,
cognition.
Vol.25, No.9, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-020-1040-9
RESONANCE | September 2020
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GENERAL ARTICLE
70 years after his book, Hebb remains an often, and indeed more reiterated name than in his time, because of the relevance his theories still hold to modern neuroscience and his understanding of the brain. This article trace Hebb’s life, his presence in the neurophysiology milieu of the 20th century and the influences that formulated his revolutionizing contribution in changing the course of neuroscience. In closing, the legacy of Hebb in the after-years of The Organization of Behaviour is discussed in the context of contemporary discoveries about neural plasticity and learning.
1. Biography 1.1 Early Life Donald Hebb was born
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