Anne K. Churchland is a neuroscientist at University of California, Los Angeles. Her laboratory studies the function of the posterior parietal cortex in cognitive processes such as decision-making and multisensory integration. One of her discoveries is that individual neurons in rodent posterior parietal cortex can multitask i.e. play a role in multiple behaviors. Another discovery is that rodents are similar to humans in their ability to perform multisensory integration, i.e. to integrate stimuli from two different modalities such as vision and hearing.
Churchland is an advocate of using rodents to study these cognitive processes, and together with scientists Zachary Mainen and Anthony Zador at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory she has made substantial advances in bringing to these species the advanced behavioral techniques previously available only in primates.
Churchland is a founding member of the International Brain Laboratory and an advisor to the Allen Institute for Brain Science.
She is the founder of Anneslist, a website which promotes equality in representation across genders in scientific meetings. Her parents are the philosophers Patricia Churchland and Paul Churchland and her brother is neuroscientist Mark Churchland.
Family
She is the daughter of analytical philosopher Patricia Churchland and philosopher Paul Churchland. Her brother, Mark Churchland, is also a neuroscientist working as assistant professor at Columbia University.
Research
Anne Churchland worked on the science behind movement, specifically fidgeting, and its relation to the process of thinking. One hypothesis they developed is that fidgeting may the instrument or way in which we begin and continue the process of thinking. This research, Churchland believes, may offer useful insight as to why people with ADHD when compared to average people, may require more movement to concentrate.
Selected awards
McKnight Scholar Award (2012)
Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences by The Pew Charitable Trusts (2014)
Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship in the Neurosciences from the Simons Foundation and the Esther A. and Joseph Klingenstein Fund (2014)
References
External links
Faculty profile at UCLA
Churchland Laboratory
International Brain Laboratory
Anneslist
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian neuroscientists Canadian women neuroscientists American neuroscientists American women neuroscientists Wellesley College alumni University of California, San Francisco alumni 21st-century American women