| Reference number | EC/1986/18 |
| Previous numbers | Cert XXII, 18 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Horn, Gabriel: certificate of election to the Royal Society |
| Date | 1985 |
| Description | Citation typed |
| Citation | Distinguished for his contributions to the analysis of neural mechanisms of behaviour. He was the first to demonstrate multimodal sensory interaction in the mammalian optic tectum and to show that the orientation of receptive fields of some neurones in the cat visual cortex are influenced by bodily tilt. He went on to analyse, and was the first systematically to investigate, neuronal habituation in the rabbit midbrain. This pioneering work, which was later extended to the study of a neurone in the locust tritocerebrum, lead him to formulate a model relating neuronal habituation to behavioural habituation, a simple form of learning. His studies of learning were extended to the analysis of imprinting in the domestic chick. In a series of experiments he and his collaborators demonstrated that imprinting is closely associated with a change in the incorporation of radioactive uracil in a particular brain region. He then showed that the region is necessary for imprinting and for the retention of an acquired preference. His demonstration that training leads to a change in the structure of synapses in the region provided the first empirical evidence of such changes in a region crucial for memory. Horn has also shown that the development of the predisposition to approach certain natural objects, such as a conspecific, depends upon different brain regions and neural mechanisms from those implicated in imprinting. These studies together represent major advances in our understanding of the neural bases of learning and memory. |
| Access status | Closed |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | Name | Dates |
| NA3932 | Horn; Sir; Gabriel (1927 - 2012) | 1927 - 2012 |