Editing Brenda Milner (section)

== Professional career ==
In 1954, Milner published an article in the McGill University Psychological Bulletin entitled 'Intellectual Function of the Temporal Lobes'.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Milner|first=Brenda|title=Intellectual Function of the Temporal Lobes|journal=Psychological Bulletin|year=1954|volume=51|issue=1|pages=42–62|doi=10.1037/h0054728|pmid=13237374}}</ref> In this publication, she presented data that showed that temporal lobe damage can cause emotional and intellectual changes in humans and lower primates.<ref>{{Cite journal|year=1954|title=Intellectual function of the temporal lobes|journal=Psychological Bulletin|volume=51|issue=1|pages=42–62|doi=10.1037/h0054728|pmid=13237374|last1=Milner|first1=B}}</ref> Her review of neuroscience studies conducted in animals discouraged many neurosurgeons from completing surgeries on humans that could negatively impact their lives.<ref name=":0" /> "Milner's early work on the temporal lobes was influenced by the results of ablation work with lower primates, and particularly by Mishkin and Pribram's discovery of the role of the inferotemporal neocortex in visual discrimination learning."<ref name=":5" />

Milner was a pioneer in the field of neuropsychology and in the study of [[memory]] and other [[cognition|cognitive]] functions in humankind. She was invited to Hartford to study [[Henry Molaison]], formerly known as patient H.M., who became the most famous patient in [[cognitive neuroscience]]. He "had undergone a bilateral temporal lobectomy that included removal of major portions of the hippocampus."<ref name="Turner">Turner, M. S. (2010). [http://www.dana.org/news/features/detail.aspx?id=25322 Tracing Permanent Memories] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212203814/http://www.dana.org/news/features/detail.aspx?id=25322 |date=February 12, 2012 }}. The DANA Foundation.</ref> She studied the effects of this damage to the [[medial temporal lobe]] on memory and systematically described the cognitive deficits exhibited by H.M.

In the early stages of her work with H.M., Milner wanted to completely understand his memory impairments. Milner showed that the medial temporal lobe [[amnestic syndrome]] is characterised by an inability to acquire new memories and an inability to recall established memories from a few years immediately before damage, while memories from the more remote past and other cognitive abilities, including [[language]], [[perception]] and [[reasoning]] were intact.<ref name="mcgill">{{cite web|url=https://www.mcgill.ca/about/history/mcgill-pioneers/milner |title=Dr Brenda Milner, CC |publisher=McGill University |access-date=May 14, 2013}}</ref> For example, Milner spent three days with H.M. as he learned a new perceptual-motor task in order to determine what type of learning and memory were intact in him. This task involved reproducing the drawing of a star by looking at it in a mirror.<ref name=Turner/> His performance improved over those three days. However, he subsequently retained absolutely no memory of any events that took place during those three days.<ref name=Turner/> This led Milner to speculate that there are different types of learning and memory, each dependent on a separate system of the brain .<ref name=Xia>{{cite journal | last=Xia | first=C. | title=Understanding the human brain: A lifetime of dedicated pursuit. Interview with Dr. Brenda Milner | journal=McGill Journal of Medicine | volume=9 | issue=2 | year=2006 | pmid=18523614 | pmc=2323518 | pages=165–172}}</ref> She was able to demonstrate two different memory systems - [[episodic memory]] and [[procedural memory]].<ref name="chrcrm"/>

Milner discovered from H.M. and other case studies that "bilateral medial temporal-lobe resection in man results in a persistent impairment of recent memory whenever the removal is carried far enough posteriorly to damage portions of the anterior hippocampus and hippocampal gyrus."<ref name="loss of memory">{{Cite journal | last1 = Scoville | first1 = W. B. | last2 = Milner | first2 = B. | doi = 10.1136/jnnp.20.1.11 | title = Loss of Recent Memory After Bilateral Hippocampal Lesions | journal = Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry | volume = 20 | pages = 11–21 | year = 1957 | pmid =  13406589| pmc = 497229 | issue=1}}</ref> She showed that in patients with this syndrome the ability to learn certain [[motor skill]]s remained normal.<ref name="loss of memory"/> This finding introduced the concept of multiple memory systems within the brain and stimulated an enormous body of research. Milner stated in an interview with the ''McGill Journal of Medicine'', "To see that H.M. had learned the task perfectly but with absolutely no awareness that he had done it before was an amazing dissociation. If you want to know what was an exciting moment of my life, that was one."<ref name=Xia/>

She has made major contributions to the understanding of the role of the [[frontal lobe]]s in memory processing, in the area of organizing information. "Dr. Milner's seminal research has provided many landmark discoveries in the study of human memory and the brain's temporal lobes, which play a key role in emotional responses, [[hearing (sense)|hearing]], [[memory]] and [[speech]]."<ref name="loss of memory"/>

She demonstrated the critical role of the dorsolateral frontal cortex for the temporal organization of memory and her work showed that there is partial separability of the neural circuits subserving recognition memory from those mediating memory for temporal order. She described the inflexibility in [[problem solving]] that is now widely recognized as a common consequence of frontal-lobe injury. These refinements in the understanding of memory and exposition of the relevant brain regions revealed the anatomically diffuse nature of complex cognitive functions in the brain.

Milner helped describe the [[lateralization]] of function in the human brain and has shown how the neural substrate of language in the cerebral hemispheres can vary in left-handed, right-handed and ambidextrous individuals (see [[handedness]]). She used the [[Wada test]] to show that for any handedness, the left hemisphere is dominant for language in most people.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Andrew-Gee |first1=Eric |title=At 104 years old, memory scientist Brenda Milner seems to remember almost everything |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-brenda-milner-memory-neuroscientist/ |website=Globe and Mail |access-date=4 January 2024 |date=7 April 2023 |quote=she showed that the left hemisphere is dominant for language in the vast majority of people, regardless of handedness.}}</ref> These studies of the relationship between hand preference and [[Speech communication|speech]] lateralization led to an understanding of the effects of early unilateral brain lesions on the pattern of cerebral organization at maturity. Her studies were among the first to demonstrate convincingly that damage to the brain can lead to dramatic functional reorganization.

Using mostly prize money from her numerous awards, Milner donated 1 million dollars to the [[Montreal Neurological Institute]] in 2007, after establishing a foundation in her name.<ref name="montrealgazette.com">{{cite web |date=July 19, 2018 |title=Mind of her own: Montreal neuroscientist Brenda Milner on turning 100 |url=https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/mind-of-her-own-montreal-neuroscientist-brenda-milner-on-turning-100 |access-date=November 30, 2018 |website=Montrealgazette.com}}</ref>