Dr. James Olds

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Dr. James Olds

• Director, Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study
• George Mason University

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Education

• Amherst College B.A. (Chemistry)
• University of Michigan Ph.D. (Neuroscience)

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Research

• The functional role of the mammalian
  neocortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum with
  special emphasis on how these highly ordered
  neuroanatomical regions interact to store and
  retrieve complex memories (i.e. face
  recognition)

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Research

• Protein Kinase Cs critical role in cellular
  memory
• Development of human brain from birth through age
  six

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How do you think your perspective as a
neuroscientist shapes the way you seek knowledge?

• Dr. Olds uses the Karl Popper approach as his way
  of seeking knowledge. Dr. Popper repudiated the
  classical observationist/inductive account of
  scientific methods by advancing empirical
  falsification.

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Falsification

• The logical possibility that an assertion is
  false by observation or by conducting an
  experiment
• Karl Popper stated that a proposition,
  hypothesis, or theory is scientific only if is
  falsifiable.

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How do people in your field learn new things?

• By conducting experiments
• Falsifying hypotheses and theories

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Future Research

• Interested in doing further research on memory
• Interested in studying consciousness/mind
• Core Belief
• The Mind is Immersed in the Brain