Margaret Livingstone

Template:Infobox scientist Margaret Stratford Livingstone is the Takeda Professor of Neurobiology in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School in the field of visual perception.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She authored the book Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing. She was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2015 and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2020.

Education and career

Livingstone was born in Virginia, started college at Duke University and then transferred to Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she received her undergraduate degree in 1972.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="SfN">Template:Cite book</ref> In 1981 she earned her Ph.D. from Harvard University.<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref> Following her Ph.D. she worked as a visiting fellow at Princeton University<ref name="SfN" /> and then was a postdoctoral fellow under David H. Hubel at Harvard University.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1983 she became an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, and in 1988 she was promoted to professor, and in 2014 she was named the Takeda Professor of Neurobiology.<ref name="SfN" />

Research

Livingstone's early research was on neurons that respond to serotonin, which she conducted by using lobsters as a model organism.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> She went on to examine the visual responses in cats,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> monkeys,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and how primates sense color.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Her research provides insight into how mammals perceive form and movement,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> the physiological details leading to dyslexia,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and the region of the brain used to identify faces.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Allegations of animal cruelty

In 2022, following Livingston's election as a member of the National Academy of Sciences, she published an inaugural article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences titled Triggers for Mother Love, in which she described the reactions of monkey mothers to being given a stuffed toy after the removal of their baby. This drew attention to her research on vision with monkey infants, which included suturing the eyelids of two monkeys shut.<ref name="scienceinfants">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="cbsinfants">Template:Cite news</ref>

In response, a group of over 250 scientists sent a letter to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences to request retraction of the article.<ref name="scienceinfants"/><ref name="cbsinfants"/> PETA also asked for retraction of the article, and asked that Livingston's work be defunded.<ref name="scienceinfants"/> In a response statement, Harvard Medical School defended the value of Livingston's work.<ref name="scienceinfants"/><ref name="cbsinfants"/>

In 2023, members of the Animal Law & Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School and the Wild Mind Labs at the University of St. Andrews wrote a letter, signed by over 380 researchers, asking the National Institute of Health to stop funding Livingstone's research with monkeys.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Selected publications

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• Template:Cite book<ref>Reviews for Vision and Art
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Awards and honors

In 2011, the Society for Neuroscience awarded Livingstone the Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2015 she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and in 2020 she was elected to the United States' National Academy of Sciences.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2024 she shared the Rosenstiel Award with Winrich Freiwald, Nancy Kanwisher, and Doris Tsao, for their work on how the brains of humans and other primates respond to faces.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

External links

• Margaret Stratford Livingstone SfN Biography (PDF)
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