Doreen Kimura

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Doreen Kimura
FRSC
Born
Doreen Goebel

(1933-02-15)February 15, 1933
Winnipeg, Manitoba
DiedFebruary 27, 2013(2013-02-27) (aged 80)
Vancouver, British Columbia
NationalityCanadian
CitizenshipCanadian
Alma materMcGill University
Children1
AwardsDonald O. Hebb Award for Distinguished Contributions to Canadian Psychology as a Science
Scientific career
FieldsNeuropsychology
Institutions
ThesisVisual and auditory perception after temporal-lobe damage (1961)
Doctoral advisorBrenda Milner
Other academic advisorsWoodburn Heron
Doctoral studentsLiisa Galea

Doreen Kimura FRSC (February 15, 1933 – February 27, 2013) was a Canadian psychologist who was professor at the University of Western Ontario and professor emeritus at Simon Fraser University.[1] Kimura was recognized for her contributions to the field of neuropsychology and later, her advocacy for academic freedom.[2] She was the founding president of the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship.[3]

Biography

Kimura was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and grew up in the village of Neudorf, Saskatchewan.[3] Kimura was finishing her final year of high school via correspondence while teaching in a one-room schoolhouse in Northern Manitoba when she applied to and won an entrance scholarship to McGill University in Montreal.[4]

Kimura went on to earn bachelor's, master's, and doctoral (in 1961) degrees from McGill.[3] Woodburn Heron supervised her master's thesis.[5] She conducted her doctoral research at the Montreal Neurological Institute under the supervision of neuroscientist Brenda Milner (co-supervised by Donald O. Hebb).[2][3][5]

Kimura joined the faculty at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, in 1967, and remained there for the rest of her career.[3] In 1974, she established the Neuropsychology Unit at London’s University Hospital (now London Health Sciences Centre).[2]

She had one daughter, named Charlotte Thistle Archer.[3] Kimura died on February 27, 2013, at age 80, in Vancouver.[3]

Work

Kimura's early work, starting in the 1960s, assessed differences in the language and music processing capabilities of the two hemispheres of the brain.[6][7] She demonstrated that right-handed subjects have a right-ear superiority for the reception of words and numbers, and left-ear superiority for the perception of melodies; she concluded that these superiorities must reflect the processing specializations of the left and right hemispheres of the brain.[2][6][7] Kimura was among the first researchers to use dichotic listening tests in her work, a non-invasive method for studying the lateral asymmetry of auditory processing in the brain.[2][5]

Kimura studied healthy individuals, as well as patients with apraxia and aphasia, to draw conclusions about the neurological underpinnings of communication.[2][8][9] Her 1993 monograph, Neuromotor Mechanisms in Human Communication,[10] summarized her research in this area over the prior two decades.[2]

Kimura's later interests included the relationship between

sex and cognition and promoting academic freedom.[2][3] In a number of publications, including her 2000 book Sex and Cognition,[11] she suggested that cognitive and behavioural differences between males and females can be attributed to the influence of sex hormones on brain development.[12][13] This work has been met with criticism by those who assert that gender differences are better explained by the influences of society and culture.[14] In a special issue of the journal Canadian Psychology, Kimura argued against affirmative action for women in academia, calling it "demeaning" to women.[15]

Awards and honours

Books

References

  1. ^ "Doreen Kimura – Obituaries – London, ON – Your Life Moments". Yourlifemoments.ca. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Dr. Doreen Kimura". Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour & Cognitive Science. Archived from the original on 2019-04-21. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Hampson, Elizabeth; Seligman, Clive (April 2013). "Obituary - Doreen Kimura 1933-2013". Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  4. PMID 16615720
    .
  5. ^
    S2CID 43450851
    .
  6. ^
    ISSN 0008-4255
    .
  7. ^
    S2CID 145633913
    .
  8. PMID 6125966
    .
  9. ISBN 978-0-12-746302-5
    , retrieved 2019-12-05
  10. OCLC 26396505
    .
  11. OCLC 42856228
    .
  12. S2CID 16623727
    .
  13. ISSN 1479-2508
    .
  14. ^ a b Luckow, Diane (2000-04-06). "Kimura awarded Sterling prize". Simon Fraser University News. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  15. ^ "kimura1". Safs.ca. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  16. ^ "CPA Award Descriptions and Recipients". Canadian Psychological Association. 8 August 2018. Archived from the original on 2010-11-22. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  17. ^ "Doreen Kimura Wins Kistler Prize". www.safs.ca. Retrieved 2019-12-05.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Doreen_Kimura&oldid=1177310937"