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Beatrice Gelber

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American psychologist
Beatrice Gelber
NationalityAmerican
Alma materIndiana University Bloomington
Known forAssociative learning and conditioning in paramecia
Scientific career
FieldsBiology, experimental psychology
InstitutionsUniversity of Chicago

Beatrice Gelber is an American psychologist best known for her work on associative learning in protozoa, suggesting that synaptic plasticity is not an essential neurochemical mechanism for learning and memory.

Education and career

She received a doctorate in psychology at Indiana University Bloomington under Roland Clark Davis. She held a professorship at University of Chicago until 1960, when she left to found the Basic Research Institute of Health.

Research

Gelber is known for her research on the intracellular mechanisms of learning and behavior. She demonstrated that Paramecium aurelia could form associations after training, reminiscent of associative learning in multicellular organisms. She suggested that these behavior modifications could be produced through modification of biological macromolecules such as protein or RNA-protein complexes, influencing the dynamic equilibrium of said key molecules. Her findings were contested by contemporaries such as Donald D. Jensen, who criticized the use of protozoans in comparative learning studies.

References

  1. Samuel J. Gershman, Petra EM Balbi, C. Randy Gallistel, Jeremy Gunawardena. "Reconsidering the evidence for learning in single cells", accessed from the National Library of Medicine website, published January 4, 2021. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
  2. ^ "Woman Launches Institute For Off-Beat Scientists" (PDF). Tucson Daily Citizen. October 19, 1960. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-06-19. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  3. Gelber, Beatrice (27 Dec 1957). "Food or Training in Paramecium?". Science. 126 (3287): 1340–1. Bibcode:1957Sci...126.1340G. doi:10.1126/science.126.3287.1340. PMID 13495465. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  4. Gelber, Beatrice (1962). "Acquisition in Paramecium Aurelia during spaced training". Psychol Rec. 12 (2): 165–77. doi:10.1007/BF03393454. S2CID 149171827. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  5. Gelber, Beatrice (1965). John A Moore (ed.). Different responses to the same training in Syngen 1 and Syngen 4 of Paramecium aurelia. XVI International Congress of Zoology. p. 3. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  6. McConnell, James V; Jacobson, Allan L (1973). "Learning in Invertebrates". Mental Health Research Institute Staff Publications, Part 1. pp. 434–7. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  7. ""Learning" in Paramecia Due to Soda Water Gas" (PDF). Science News Letter. 71 (7). February 16, 1957. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
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