The Brenda A. Milner Award

The Brenda A. Milner Award recognizes the author of an outstanding paper in the field of behavioral neuroscience or comparative psychology. The paper must be written by a member of Division 6 who is within five years of having received the PhD at the time of the deadline for submission. Although the paper may be co-authored, the applicant should be the senior author and the paper must represent the original work of the applicant. The paper must be in press or must have been published within the past five years. The recipient receives a plaque at the Business Meeting of Division 6, held at the APA Annual Convention.

Brenda A. Milner (1918-) is a distinguished neuroscientist still teaching and conducting research into her 90s at the Montreal Neurological Institute. Her career has earned her more than 20 honorary degrees, and she is often referred to as the founder of neuropsychology. Her undergraduate and master's degrees were completed at Cambridge University, where Oliver Zangwell introduced her to the study of brains. Her doctoral work was supervised by D. O. Hebb at McGill University. It was Hebb who secured a position for her with Wilder Penfield. Her work eventually brought her to study the infamous hippocampus-damaged memory patient H.M. and as a result, established her as one of the most important neuroscientists of the 20th century. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society of London and the Royal Society of Canada. Milner is an inspiration as a pioneer and scientist but also as a woman whose curiosity, persistence and determination have changed how we understand ourselves and our world.

Nominations must be made by a member of Division 6.

Nominees must have written a paper within five years of having received his/her PhD at the time of deadline for submission.

The paper may be co-authored however the applicant should be the senior author or the paper must represent the original work of the applicant.

The paper must be in press or has been published within the last five years.

Nominee’s must be a member of Division 6. (Non-members of the division may apply for membership at the time of nomination.)

Nomination materials include:

• A short (150-300 word) statement explaining why nominee is deserving of the award.

• Name and institutional affiliation of nominee.

Please send all nominations to Lauren Highfill.

2025

Greene, S. M., Klein, P. R., Alcala, G. A., Bustamante, I., Bordas, B., Johnson, A., Vu, V., Uhm, S. Y., & Gould, G. G. (2023). Aging to 24 months increased C57BL/6J mouse social sniffing and hippocampal Neto1 levels, and impaired female spatial learning. Behavioural processes, 211, 104929. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2023.104929opens in new window

2024

Sarah Krichbaum (Auburn University) for: Krichbaum, S., Smith, J. G., Lazarowski, L., & Katz, J. S. (2021). Controlling for dogs’ (Canis familiaris) use of nonmnemonic strategies in a spatial working memory task. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, 47(3), 364–370. https://doi.org/10.1037/xan0000293opens in new window

2023

Lucia Lazarowski

2022

Victor Navarro

2021

Kristyn R. Vitale

2020

Audrey Parrish

2019

Lorenz S. Neuwirth

2018

Adriene Beltz

2017

Ben Dantzer

2015

Michael K. Scullin

2014

Dan Brooks

2013

Ethan Kross

2012

Fabían A. Soto

2011

Holly Miller

2010

Bradley Sturz

2009

Nicole Avena

2007-08

none

2006

K. M. Christian
Kimberly M. Christian (honorable mention)

2005

Michael Beran

2004

Jessie J. Peissig

2003

none

2002

Claudio Cantalupo

2001

none

2000

Lou Sherburne

1999

Valentin Dragoi

1998

Eric P. Wiertelak

1997

Sylvain Fiset
M. E. Young (honorable mention)