-----Original Message-----
From: Prof. Hal Cook [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: 05 May 2009 07:13
To: Warwick ([log in to unmask])
Subject: Lecture by Dr Fabio De Sio at Wellcome Trust Centre for the History
of Medicine, London 18 May 2009



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

For information on our other events, please see:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed/events/events

Posted by Prof HJ Cook, Director, WTC [log in to unmask]