Michael Gazzaniga

Michael Gazzaniga
Born	December 12, 1939 (1939-12-12) (age 71)
Residence	Santa Barbara, California
Citizenship	United States
Nationality	United States
Fields	Psychology, neuroscience
Institutions	University of California, Santa Barbara, SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind
Alma mater	Dartmouth College, California Institute of Technology
Doctoral advisor	Roger Sperry
Doctoral students	Joseph E. LeDoux
Known for	Split-brain research, cerebral lateralization, cognitive neuroscience
Notable awards	Elected to the National Academy of Sciences (2011)

Michael S. Gazzaniga (born December 12, 1939) is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he heads the new SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind. He is one of the leading researchers in cognitive neuroscience, the study of the neural basis of mind.

In 1961, Gazzaniga graduated from Dartmouth College. In 1964, he received a Ph.D. in psychobiology from the California Institute of Technology, where he worked under the guidance of Roger Sperry, with primary responsibility for initiating human split-brain research. In his subsequent work he has made important advances in our understanding of functional lateralization in the brain and how the cerebral hemispheres communicate with one another.

Gazzaniga's publication career includes books for a general audience The Social Brain, Mind Matters, and Nature's Mind. He recently published The Cognitive Neurosciences III, from MIT Press, which features the work of nearly 200 scientists and is a sourcebook for the field. His book The Ethical Brain was published by the Dana Press in June 2005.

Gazzaniga founded the Centers for Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of California, Davis and at Dartmouth College, the Neuroscience Institute, and the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, of which he is the Editor-in-Chief Emeritus. Gazzaniga a member of the President's Council on Bioethics. He also is the Director of the Law and Neuroscience Project, a project to study the intersection of law and neuroscience.

Cultural influence

Gazzaniga's work is referenced in the book Peace on Earth by Stanisław Lem.

Publications

• 2009 Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique, Harper Perennial. ISBN 978-0060892890

See also

• Attentional shift
• Left brain interpreter

References

External links

• University of California Santa Barbara faculty web page
• The Law and Neuroscience Project
• Sage Center for the Study of the Mind
• "The Effects of Crack" — an exchange between Gazzaniga and the conservative commentator William F. Buckley, Jr.
• Video of Gazzaniga demonstrating the effects of split brain surgery
• Video (and audio) of interview/discussion with Gazzaniga by Carl Zimmer on Bloggingheads.tv

Persondata
Name	Gazzaniga, Michael
Alternative names	Gazzaniga, Michael S.; Gazzaniga, M. S.
Short description	American neuroscientist
Date of birth	December 12, 1939
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death