Skip to main content

Main menu

  • HOME
  • CONTENT
    • Early Release
    • Featured
    • Current Issue
    • Issue Archive
    • Collections
    • Podcast
  • ALERTS
  • FOR AUTHORS
    • Information for Authors
    • Fees
    • Journal Clubs
    • eLetters
    • Submit
  • EDITORIAL BOARD
  • ABOUT
    • Overview
    • Advertise
    • For the Media
    • Rights and Permissions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Feedback
  • SUBSCRIBE

User menu

  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Journal of Neuroscience
  • Log in
  • My Cart
Journal of Neuroscience

Advanced Search

Submit a Manuscript
  • HOME
  • CONTENT
    • Early Release
    • Featured
    • Current Issue
    • Issue Archive
    • Collections
    • Podcast
  • ALERTS
  • FOR AUTHORS
    • Information for Authors
    • Fees
    • Journal Clubs
    • eLetters
    • Submit
  • EDITORIAL BOARD
  • ABOUT
    • Overview
    • Advertise
    • For the Media
    • Rights and Permissions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Feedback
  • SUBSCRIBE
PreviousNext
Viewpoints

Heroes of the Engram

Sheena A. Josselyn, Stefan Köhler and Paul W. Frankland
Journal of Neuroscience 3 May 2017, 37 (18) 4647-4657; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0056-17.2017
Sheena A. Josselyn
1Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8, Canada,
2Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3GM, Canada,
3Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada,
4Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada,
5Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada,
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Stefan Köhler
6Brain and Mind Institute and Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada, and
7Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Ontario M6A 2E1, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Stefan Köhler
Paul W. Frankland
1Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8, Canada,
2Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3GM, Canada,
3Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada,
4Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada,
5Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8, Canada,
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • eLetters
  • PDF
Loading

Article Figures & Data

Figures

  • Figure 1.
    • Download figure
    • Open in new tab
    • Download powerpoint
    Figure 1.

    Images of our heroes of the engram. Left to right: Top, Richard Semon, Karl Lashley, Donald Hebb, Wilder Penfield. Bottom: Brenda Milner, James McConnell, Richard Thompson. Richard Semon: Picture in public domain due to its age. Karl Lashley: Reproduced with permission from the University of Chicago Photographic Archive (apf digital item number, e.g., apf1–03675), Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library. Donald Hebb: Reproduced with permission from the McGill University Archive. Wilder Penfield: Reproduced with permission from the McGill University Archive. Brenda Milner: Reproduced courtesy of McGill University. James McConnell: Reproduced with permission from the Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. Richard Thompson: Reproduced with permission from the Society for Neuroscience.

  • Figure 2.
    • Download figure
    • Open in new tab
    • Download powerpoint
    Figure 2.

    Images of copy of Worm Runner's Digest. Courtesy of Larry Stern, Professor of Sociology, Collin College (Plano, Texas).

Back to top

In this issue

The Journal of Neuroscience: 37 (18)
Journal of Neuroscience
Vol. 37, Issue 18
3 May 2017
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • About the Cover
  • Index by author
  • Advertising (PDF)
  • Ed Board (PDF)
Email

Thank you for sharing this Journal of Neuroscience article.

NOTE: We request your email address only to inform the recipient that it was you who recommended this article, and that it is not junk mail. We do not retain these email addresses.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Heroes of the Engram
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from Journal of Neuroscience
(Your Name) thought you would be interested in this article in Journal of Neuroscience.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Print
View Full Page PDF
Citation Tools
Heroes of the Engram
Sheena A. Josselyn, Stefan Köhler, Paul W. Frankland
Journal of Neuroscience 3 May 2017, 37 (18) 4647-4657; DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0056-17.2017

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Respond to this article
Request Permissions
Share
Heroes of the Engram
Sheena A. Josselyn, Stefan Köhler, Paul W. Frankland
Journal of Neuroscience 3 May 2017, 37 (18) 4647-4657; DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0056-17.2017
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • Introduction
    • Footnotes
    • References
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • eLetters
  • PDF

Responses to this article

Respond to this article

Jump to comment:

  • ORGANIC MEMORY
    Donald R Forsdyke
    Published on: 09 May 2017
  • Published on: (9 May 2017)
    Page navigation anchor for ORGANIC MEMORY
    ORGANIC MEMORY
    • Donald R Forsdyke, Professor, Queen's University, Canada

    The view that Richard Semon's work was neglected seems to be based on psychologist Daniel Schacter's 1982 text (1). This was reissued with a new title and a few changes in 2001, without mention of the profound interim account by historian Laura Otis (2). While the authors cite my 2006 text on Samuel Butler and Ewald Hering, later work corroborates and extends Otis’s study and casts a somewhat different light on the authors' prime hero (3, 4).

    Even if offering a list of heroes that is "entirely personal," a paper that extolls the "benefits of exploring the history of science" and of acknowledging our "debts … to those scientists who have offered key ideas," could have mentioned the doubts cast on Semon by Freud and Hertzog, and Semon's dismissal of Butler's work as "rather a retrogression than an advance."

    1. Schacter DL (1982) Stranger behind the Engram: Theories of Memory and the Psychology of Science. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    2. Otis L (1994) Organic Memory. History and the Body in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

    3. Forsdyke DR (2009) Samuel Butler and human long term memory: is the cupboard bare? J Theor Biol 258:156-164.Forsdyke DR, 2009

    4. Forsdyke DR (2015) "A vehicle of symbols and nothing more." George Romanes, theory of mind, information, and Samuel Butler. History of Psychiatry 26:270-287. Forsdyk...

    Show More

    The view that Richard Semon's work was neglected seems to be based on psychologist Daniel Schacter's 1982 text (1). This was reissued with a new title and a few changes in 2001, without mention of the profound interim account by historian Laura Otis (2). While the authors cite my 2006 text on Samuel Butler and Ewald Hering, later work corroborates and extends Otis’s study and casts a somewhat different light on the authors' prime hero (3, 4).

    Even if offering a list of heroes that is "entirely personal," a paper that extolls the "benefits of exploring the history of science" and of acknowledging our "debts … to those scientists who have offered key ideas," could have mentioned the doubts cast on Semon by Freud and Hertzog, and Semon's dismissal of Butler's work as "rather a retrogression than an advance."

    1. Schacter DL (1982) Stranger behind the Engram: Theories of Memory and the Psychology of Science. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    2. Otis L (1994) Organic Memory. History and the Body in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

    3. Forsdyke DR (2009) Samuel Butler and human long term memory: is the cupboard bare? J Theor Biol 258:156-164.Forsdyke DR, 2009

    4. Forsdyke DR (2015) "A vehicle of symbols and nothing more." George Romanes, theory of mind, information, and Samuel Butler. History of Psychiatry 26:270-287. Forsdyke DR, 2015

    Show Less
    Competing Interests: None declared.

Related Articles

Cited By...

More in this TOC Section

  • The Protective Effect of Social Reward on Opioid and Psychostimulant Reward and Relapse: Behavior, Pharmacology, and Brain Regions
  • Amygdala Intercalated Cells: Gate Keepers and Conveyors of Internal State to the Circuits of Emotion
  • A Neurosurgical Functional Dissection of the Middle Precentral Gyrus during Speech Production
Show more Viewpoints
  • Home
  • Alerts
  • Visit Society for Neuroscience on Facebook
  • Follow Society for Neuroscience on Twitter
  • Follow Society for Neuroscience on LinkedIn
  • Visit Society for Neuroscience on Youtube
  • Follow our RSS feeds

Content

  • Early Release
  • Current Issue
  • Issue Archive
  • Collections

Information

  • For Authors
  • For Advertisers
  • For the Media
  • For Subscribers

About

  • About the Journal
  • Editorial Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
(JNeurosci logo)
(SfN logo)

Copyright © 2023 by the Society for Neuroscience.
JNeurosci Online ISSN: 1529-2401

The ideas and opinions expressed in JNeurosci do not necessarily reflect those of SfN or the JNeurosci Editorial Board. Publication of an advertisement or other product mention in JNeurosci should not be construed as an endorsement of the manufacturer’s claims. SfN does not assume any responsibility for any injury and/or damage to persons or property arising from or related to any use of any material contained in JNeurosci.