The Harvard Brain
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Aristotle believed that the purpose of the brain was to cool heated blood. A generation later Herophilius challenged this notion and identified the brain as the seat of intelligence. Aristotle’s opinion prevailed for over two thousand years. After all, who ever heard of Herophilius?It was not until 1664 that Thomas Willis, that most eminent of British physicians, published Cerebri Anatome, a treatise declaring, among other things, that nerves emanated from the brain. Hence, it has only been three centuries since learned scholars began to appreciate the importance of the brain.
Since 1990, we have, by presidential decree, been living in “The Decade of the Brain.”
(Does that mean that we have less than five years to go before we enter “The Decade of
the Pancreas”?) As we all know, NEUROSCIENCE encompasses a number of
disciplines, formerly diverse, to include biochemistry, physiology, clinical medicine,
physics, computer science, anthropology, philosophy, psychology, and electrical
engineering. The breadth of neuroscientific investigation at Harvard College is
reflected in the research interests of its undergraduates. For example, Laurie Santos
’97, a Psychology concentrator, studies primate animal cognition. She is investigating
the cognitive precursors of a “Theory of Mind” in cotton-top tamarins, a new world
monkey. Josh McDermott ’98, a Cognitive Science concentrator, is using functional
magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the neural activity underlying auditory
processing during sleep. Vikaas Sohal ’97, an Applied Mathematics concentrator, uses
methods of computational neuroscience to model patterns of activity of neurons in
inferotemporal cortex as they respond to visual stimuli.
With the advent of Harvard’s Mind, Brain, and Behavior Interfaculty Initiative, it is
anticipated that a more constructive dialogue will be enjoyed by scientists and
humanists. This edition of The Harvard Brain, demonstrates the contribution of Harvard
undergraduates to that dialogue.
Amy Herman '97
Editor-in-Chief
Copyright © 1996 by the Harvard Undergraduate Society for Neuroscience.
Revised: 10 May 1996
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