The Medical Research Council's Cognitive and brain imaging unit is a branch of the larger Medical Research Council. Based in Cambridge, England since its creation during WWII it remains at the forefront of its field. Current MRC logo The Medical Research Council (MRC) is a UK organisation dedicated to promot[ing] the balanced development of medical and related biological research in the UK. Organisation The MRC is one of seven Research Councils and is answerable to, although politically independent from, the Office of Science and... Current MRC logo The Medical Research Council (MRC) is a UK organisation dedicated to promot[ing] the balanced development of medical and related biological research in the UK. Organisation The MRC is one of seven Research Councils and is answerable to, although politically independent from, the Office of Science and... The city of Cambridge is an old English university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population - Total (mid-2004) - Density Ranked 1st UK 50. ... German soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad World War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the worlds nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. ...

Unit History

Established in 1944, the Unit is one of the largest and most long-lasting contributors to the development of psychological theory and practice. Its origins lie within the Industrial Fatigue Research Board that was set up during the First World War to increase munitions workers' productivity, and the Industrial Health Research Board that replaced it in the inter-war years. With the rapid technological changes that accompanied the Second World War, the emphasis changed from environmental aspects of the workplace such as lighting, temperature and hours of work, to the operation and maintenance of equipment, and in 1944 the MRC established the 'Unit for Research in Applied Psychology' within the Psychological Laboratory of Cambridge University, under the Directorship of Kenneth Craik. Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Materiel (from the French for material) is the equipment and supplies in Military and commercial supply chain management. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... The initials MRC can stand for: Medical Research Council (UK) Medical Research Council (South Africa) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... REDIRECT [1] ... Kenneth Craik ( 1914- 1945) was a philosopher and psychologist who received his doctorate from Cambridge University in 1940. ...

Craik was tragically killed in a cycling accident a year later, and was succeeded by Sir Frederick Bartlett, who was also Professor within the University Department of Psychology. Craik was a pioneer in the use of computers as models for human information processing, developing what was probably the first computational model of skill and applying it to the wartime task of gun-aiming. Bartlett had a great talent for combining careful experimentation with the development of theory that was applicable to naturalistic as well as experimental data. These two influences on the early direction of the Unit positioned it well for the 'cognitive revolution' of the sixties. Sir Frederic Bartlett (1886-1969) was Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge from the 1931 until his retirement in 1951. ... REDIRECT [1] ...

Bartlett retired in 1951, being replaced as Director by Norman Mackworth, who found that the Unit had outgrown the space available within the Psychology Department and the annex that it had acquired. Noticing a pleasant Victorian house on the outskirts of the city, with a very large garden, he bought it, and then informed the MRC! This building in Chaucer Road, with its subsequent extensions, has remained the home of the Unit since that time. Victorian can refer to: people from or attributes of places called Victoria (disambiguation page), including Victoria, Australia, people who lived during the British Victorian era of the 19th century, and aspects of the Victorian era, for example: Victorian architecture Victorian fashion Victorian morality Victorian literature This is a disambiguation page... The initials MRC can stand for: Medical Research Council (UK) Medical Research Council (South Africa) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

The Unit's early work, closely related to military problems such as pilot fatigue, the vigilance of radar operators, and the effects of environmental stress, was gradually succeeded by related research prompted by other government departments such as the Ministry of Transport and the Post Office. In 1958, after Mackworth had resigned to emigrate to Canada, Donald Broadbent became Director, and continued the information processing approach to psychology that Craik had initiated. His classic book Perception and Communication, published a few months later, was a major influence in the years that saw cognitive psychology become the dominant theoretical paradigm. Donald Broadbent was an outstandingly successful Director, and over his sixteen years at the Unit established its international reputation with a unique blend of pure and applied research. This long range radar antenna (approximately 40m (130ft) in diameter) rotates on a track to observe activities near the horizon. ... In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport is the government department responsible for the transport network. ... Small-town post office and town hall in Lockhart, Alabama A post office is a facility (in most countries, a government one) where the public can purchase postage stamps for mailing correspondence or merchandise, and also drop off or pick up packages or other special-delivery items. ... Donald Broadbent (Birmingham, 1926-1993) was a British psychologist. ... Donald Broadbent (Birmingham, 1926-1993) was a British psychologist. ...

Alan Baddeley suceeded Donald Broadbent in 1974, and as Alan himself noted at the time, Donald would be a hard act to follow. Of course, Alan did follow that act with great distinction over the 22 years of his directorship. He ensured that core strengths in the major areas of cognitive psychology were maintained, while at the same time seeking areas of application that were tractable and fundable. With the increasing importance of computers in the workplace in the seventies and eighties, a larger part of the Unit's work was conducted in association with industry, although this later diminished as recession affected industrial R&D budgets. In the beginning of the 1990's health-related problems provided the major basis for applying and enriching cognitive psychology. Initial ventures in neuropsychology involved single case studies of patients with relatively pure and specific cognitive deficits. The field was developed to the point at which it could deal with a wider range of cases where the deficits are less specific. This in turn stimulated the new field of cognitive neuropsychiatry. Cognitive psychology was also extended to encompass the relationships between cognition and emotion, which became part of a vigorous area of interaction between academic and clinical researchers. A significant contribution towards blending theoretical and practical work was reflected in the neuropsychological rehabilitation group, which moved into its accomodation in Addenbrooke's Hospital in 1995. Donald Broadbent (Birmingham, 1926-1993) was a British psychologist. ... Cognitive psychology is the psychological science which studies cognition, the mental processes that are hypothesised to underlie behavior. ... Neuropsychology is a branch of psychology that aims to understand how the structure and function of the brain relates to specific psychological processes. ... Cognitive neuropsychiatry is a sub-discipline of psychiatry that aims to understand mental illness and psychopathology in terms of models of normal psychological function. ... Cognitive psychology is the psychological science which studies cognition, the mental processes that are hypothesised to underlie behavior. ...

1994 was the CBU's 50th anniversary year - and was commemorated in pantomime.

Dr. William Marslen-Wilson took up his appointment as the Director of the Unit in July 1997, following Alan Baddeley's earlier move to Bristol in September 1996. He joins the Unit at a time of substantial scientific and organisational change. As Director, his remit is to reorient and re-develop the Unit's scientific programmes. The main thrust of the reorientation is to concentrate research around the task of constructing explanatory theories of the major components of human cognitive function, marrying psychological and computational accounts of cognitive function and architecture with increasingly detailed analyses of how these functions are realised in the brain. In collaboration with the Department of Experimental Psychology, the Clinical School, the Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre, and other Cambridge-based programmes, Unit's future research will be aimed at a greater integration of cognitive science with neuroscience. In the period since the new Director's arrival, existing scientific programmes and resources have been re-organised and a new Unit Programme for the next five years has been approved by the Medical Research Council. In order to reflect these changes, from April 1998 the Unit, which had been known since the 1950's as the Applied Psychology Unit (APU), was re-named the Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (CBU). Bristol is an English city and county and one of the two administrative centres of South West England (the other being Plymouth). ...

As part of this process of change and renewal, the Unit has undergone a major programme of remodelling and rebuilding. Along with the refurbishment of the old Edwardian mansion which forms the old heart of the Unit, the centrepiece of these developments is the recently completed West Wing. This is a dramatic two-storey addition to the CBU facilities, which houses extensive laboratory space for behavioural testing on the ground floor and excellent lecture theatre and seminar room facilities on the first floor. Beautifully integrated with the old house and with the CBU gardens, this new building provides an appropriate setting for the Unit's future as a major UK centre for 21st century interdisciplinary science. The Edwardian period or Edwardian era in the United Kingdom is the period 1901 to 1910, the reign of King Edward VII. It is sometimes extended to include the period to the start of World War I in 1914 or even the end of the war in 1918. ...

Current Events

In an effort to increase the amount of access scientists within the unit have to advanced neuro-imaging equipment, the CBU is currently in the process (May-December 2005) of adding its own Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner to the Chaucer Road site. For other meanings see Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). ...