Brenda Milner

Brenda Milner is known for her significant contributions to our understanding of the human brain and for working with a patient known as “H.M.”

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Born in Manchester, England, in 1918, Milner demonstrated academic prowess early on, learning German by six years of age and French later in her youth. She enrolled at Cambridge University in 1936 initially for mathematics but quickly recognized she would not distinguish herself in the field. So, she made the transition to psychology. In pursuing her master’s degree, Milner’s focus was on experimental psychology, studying brain lesions and examining cognitive disorders in the brain. However, her research focus pivoted in 1939 to assist British war efforts during the Second World War, helping distinguish fighter pilots from bomber pilots via aptitude tests.

Shortly after receiving her master’s degree in experimental psychology, Milner and her future husband moved to Canada, where she taught at the Université de Montréal for seven years. In 1950, Milner resumed her research career at McGill University where she studied temporal lobe damage in humans. After receiving her PhD in 1952, Milner went on to work with an unusual patient — Henry Molaison, also known as patient H.M. In a puzzling case, Molaison underwent surgery to stop epileptic seizures, removing portions of his medial temporal lobe. However, he couldn’t recall new memories after the procedure. In a 1957 paper, Milner and William Beecher Scoville indicated the hippocampus and nearby regions extracted from surgery were necessary for recall of his declarative memory. And with Molasion’s intellect, perception, and ability to learn new movements intact, they demonstrated memory retrieval was separate from other memory processes.

Milner’s research focused on identifying brain regions important for language, bilingualism, spatial memory, and more. She has received many awards recognizing her discoveries in the neuroscience world. In 2007, the Brenda Milner Foundation was created to support post-doctoral fellowships in cognitive neuroscience at The Neuro. Now, at 106 years old, Milner is widely recognized for her work with honorary degrees from over 25 universities.

About the Author

Cyrenna Cooper

Cyrenna Cooper is the Web Communications Specialist for BrainFacts. She graduated from George Mason University in 2017 with a degree in Communications.