Nancy Kanwisher
{{short description|American neuroscientist}}
{{Infobox scientist
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| name = Nancy G. Kanwisher
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| image = Introduction to the Simons Center, Nancy Kanwisher, 2m33s.jpg
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| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1958}}
| birth_place = Woods Hole, Massachusetts
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| nationality = American
| fields = Cognitive psychology
| workplaces = UCLA
Harvard University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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| alma_mater = Massachusetts Institute of Technology
| thesis_title = Repetition blindness: type recognition without token individuation
| thesis_url = http://library.mit.edu/item/000267262
| thesis_year = 1986
| doctoral_advisor = Mary C. Potter
| doctoral_students = Frank Tong
| known_for = Fusiform face area
| awards = Golden Brain Award
Heineken Prize
Kavli Prize
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Nancy Gail Kanwisher FBA (born 1958){{cite news|url = http://www.sciencenews.org/article/brain-display|title = Brain on display: Nancy Kanwisher goes where few other neuroscientists dare to in public outreach|work = Science News|first = Laura|last = Sanders|date = April 27, 2015|quote = Kanwisher, 56|access-date = August 5, 2015|archive-date = January 16, 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210116151017/https://www.sciencenews.org/article/brain-display|url-status = live}} is the Walter A Rosenblith Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a researcher at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research. She studies the neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying human visual perception and cognition.{{Cite web|url = http://mcgovern.mit.edu/principal-investigators/nancy-kanwisher|title = Nancy Kanwisher|access-date = 13 November 2014|website = McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT|archive-date = 10 March 2010|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100310190539/http://mcgovern.mit.edu/principal-investigators/nancy-kanwisher|url-status = live}}
Academic background
Nancy Kanwisher received her BS in biology from MIT in 1980 and her PhD in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from MIT in 1986. After obtaining her PhD working with Mary C. Potter, she then did her post-doctoral work with Anne Treisman at UC-Berkeley. Before returning to MIT as a faculty member in 1997 in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Kanwisher served as a faculty member at both UCLA and Harvard University.{{Cite web|title = Q&A with Prof. Nancy Kanwisher '80 (CPW Preview!) {{!}} MIT Admissions|url = http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/qa_with_prof_nancy_kanwisher_8|website = mitadmissions.org| date=5 April 2010 |access-date = 2015-11-11|archive-date = 2013-05-16|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130516052452/http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/qa_with_prof_nancy_kanwisher_8|url-status = live}}
Kanwisher is a member and associate editor for journals in areas of cognitive science, including Cognition, Current Opinion in Neurobiology, Journal of Neuroscience, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, and Cognitive Neuropsychology.{{Cite web|url = http://www.cognitivesciencesociety.org/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=FellowsSelectionCommittee.NancyKanwisher|title = Nancy Kanwisher|access-date = 2015-11-11|website = Cognitive Science Society|last = Landau|first = Barbara|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304092510/http://www.cognitivesciencesociety.org/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=FellowsSelectionCommittee.NancyKanwisher|archive-date = 2016-03-04}} She has also written on other subjects, including an article in the Huffington Post and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2010 about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.{{Cite web|title = Listening to Palestinians|url = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-kanwisher/listening-to-palestinians_b_796630.html|website = The Huffington Post|date = 14 December 2010|access-date = 2015-11-11|archive-date = 2010-12-21|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101221110436/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-kanwisher/listening-to-palestinians_b_796630.html|url-status = live}}
Kanwisher once shaved her head while teaching a lecture on neuroanatomy to point out the functional regions of the brain so her students could visualize the concepts.{{Cite web|title = This Badass Scientist Shaved Off Her Hair To Teach Students About Brain Regions|url = https://www.buzzfeed.com/natashaumer/this-badass-scientist-shaved-off-her-hair-to-teach-students|website = BuzzFeed| date=16 April 2015 |access-date = 2015-11-11|archive-date = 2015-04-18|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150418032954/https://www.buzzfeed.com/natashaumer/this-badass-scientist-shaved-off-her-hair-to-teach-students|url-status = live}}
Achievements and awards
Kanwisher has received several accolades for her academic endeavors.
She was awarded the National Academy of Sciences Troland Research Award in 1999, awarded for achievement in investigations regarding relationships of consciousness and the physical world.
She received the MacVicar Faculty Fellow Award in 2002{{Cite web|title = Brain and Mind|url = http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_events/symposia/brain_mind_bios.html|website = c250.columbia.edu|access-date = 2015-11-11|archive-date = 2016-03-12|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160312144316/http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_events/symposia/brain_mind_bios.html|url-status = live}} and the 2016 National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award.{{cite web |url=https://commonfund.nih.gov/pioneer/Recipients16 |title=NIH Director's Pioneer Award Program - 2016 Pioneer Award Recipients {{!}} NIH Common Fund |website=commonfund.nih.gov |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108053516/https://commonfund.nih.gov/pioneer/Recipients16 |archive-date=2016-11-08}}
In January 2021, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from University of York, England.{{cite web |title=University of York honours three for their contribution to society |url=https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2020/quality/honours-contribution-society/ |website=University of York |access-date=11 December 2020 |archive-date=9 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201209101031/https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2020/quality/honours-contribution-society/ |url-status=live }}
In 2002, she won the NAS Award in the Neurosciences.
In 2023, she won the Jean Nicod Prize.{{cite web |url=https://cognition.ens.fr/en/news/prix-jean-nicod-2023-awarded-nancy-kanwisher-massachusetts-institute-technology-17419#:~:text=17%20October%202023-,The%20Prix%20Jean%20Nicod%202023%20is%20awarded%20to%20Nancy%20Kanwisher,%2C%2012%20and%2014%2C%202023. |title=The Prix Jean Nicod 2023 is awarded to Nancy Kanwisher (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) |author= |date=October 18, 2023 |website=École Normale Superior |publisher=November 28, 2023|access-date= }}
In 2024, Kanwisher was one of three recipients of the Kavli Prize in neuroscience "for the discovery of a highly localized and specialized system for representation of faces in human and non-human primate neocortex".{{Cite web |title=The 2024 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience |url=https://www.kavliprize.org/prizes/neuroscience/2024 |access-date=2024-06-12 |website=www.kavliprize.org}}
Also in 2024, she was awarded the Rosenstiel Award of the Brandeis University.[https://www.brandeis.edu/stories/2024/october/of-note/rosenstiel-2024.html Rosenstiel Award 2024]
Kanwisher founded the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT and is the Walter A. Rosenblith Professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.
She serves as a member of the National Academy of Sciences (since 2005), American Academy of Arts and Sciences (since 2009),{{Cite web|title = Eight from MIT elected to AAAS|url = https://news.mit.edu/2009/aaas-fellows-0420|website = MIT News| date=20 April 2009 |access-date = 2015-11-11|archive-date = 2016-03-05|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160305173508/https://news.mit.edu/2009/aaas-fellows-0420|url-status = live}} and received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in Peace and International Security (1986).
In July 2017, Kanwisher was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences.{{cite web|title=Elections to the British Academy celebrate the diversity of UK research|url=http://www.britac.ac.uk/news/elections-british-academy-celebrate-diversity-uk-research|website=British Academy|access-date=29 July 2017|date=2 July 2017|archive-date=23 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170723194309/http://www.britac.ac.uk/news/elections-british-academy-celebrate-diversity-uk-research|url-status=live}}
Research
Kanwisher has training in cognitive psychology, which is investigating how the mind works by observing its outward behavior. She is credited with co-discovering and characterizing the fusiform face area (FFA) in the human brain,{{Cite journal|url = http://web.mit.edu/bcs/nklab/media/pdfs/KanwisherMcDermottChunJNeuro97.pdf|title = The Fusiform Face Area: A Module in Human Extrastriate Cortex Specialized for Face Perception|last = Kanwisher|first = Nancy|date = 1997-06-01|journal = The Journal of Neuroscience|volume = 17|issue = 11|pages = 4302–4311|doi = 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.17-11-04302.1997|pmid = 9151747|pmc = 6573547|access-date = 2015-11-11|doi-access = free|archive-date = 2015-10-14|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151014101045/http://web.mit.edu/bcs/nklab/media/pdfs/KanwisherMcDermottChunJNeuro97.pdf|url-status = live}}{{Cite journal|url = http://web.mit.edu/bcs/nklab/media/pdfs/TongNakayamaMoscovitchWeinribKanwisher2000.pdf|last = Kanwisher|first = Nancy|title = Response Properties of the Human Fusiform Face Area|date = 2000|journal = Cognitive Neuropsychology|doi = 10.1080/026432900380607|pmid = 20945183|volume = 17|issue = 1–3|pages = 257–280|citeseerx = 10.1.1.208.2920|s2cid = 4831248|access-date = 2014-11-13|archive-date = 2020-08-04|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200804045457/http://web.mit.edu/bcs/nklab/media/pdfs/TongNakayamaMoscovitchWeinribKanwisher2000.pdf|url-status = live}} a region whose function appears to be the recognition of fine distinctions between well-known objects and, in particular, faces. She also co-discovered the parahippocampal place area (PPA),{{Cite journal|last1=Epstein|first1=Russell|last2=Kanwisher|first2=Nancy|date=April 1998|title=A cortical representation of the local visual environment|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/33402|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=392|issue=6676|pages=598–601|doi=10.1038/33402|pmid=9560155|bibcode=1998Natur.392..598E|s2cid=920141|issn=1476-4687|access-date=2020-12-01|archive-date=2020-08-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200821073504/https://www.nature.com/articles/33402|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}} a region of the brain that recognizes environmental scenes. These two discoveries are now widely discussed in the cognitive field and provide a gold standard for clarity in search for primitives of human cognition. In her research, she uses functional MRI,{{Cite web|title = The brain is a Swiss Army knife: Nancy Kanwisher at TED2014|url = http://blog.ted.com/the-brain-is-a-swiss-army-knife-nancy-kanwisher-at-ted2014/|website = TED Blog| date=19 March 2014 |access-date = 2015-11-11|language = en-US|archive-date = 2015-12-22|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151222045739/http://blog.ted.com/the-brain-is-a-swiss-army-knife-nancy-kanwisher-at-ted2014/|url-status = live}} behavioral methods, and transcranial magnetic stimulation. She also uses ECOG to study audition, language processing, and social perception. She gave a 2014 TED Talk entitled "A Neural Portrait of the Human Mind".
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://web.mit.edu/bcs/nklab/ Kanwisher Lab]
- [http://nancysbraintalks.mit.edu/ Nancy's Brain Talks]
- [http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2005/05/national-academy.aspx Election to National Academy of Sciences]
- [http://www.pnas.org/content/96/4/1173.full Troland Research Award]
{{Heineken Prizes}}
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Category:American women neuroscientists
Category:American cognitive neuroscientists
Category:Fellows of the Society of Experimental Psychologists
Category:Harvard University faculty
Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty
Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Category:University of California, Los Angeles faculty
Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Category:Fellows of the Cognitive Science Society
Category:Corresponding fellows of the British Academy
Category:Neuroimaging researchers
Category:American women academics