View source for Karl H. Pribram

{{Short description|Austrian neuroscientist (1919–2015)}}
{{distinguish|text=[[Karl Přibram]], economist}}
{{use mdy dates|date=July 2025}}
{{coi|date=July 2025}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Karl H. Pribram
| image             = Karl Pribram author photo The Form Within.jpg
| caption           = 
| birth_name        = 
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1919|2|25}}
| birth_place       = [[Vienna]], [[Austria]]
| death_date        = {{death date and age|2015|1|19|1919|2|25}}
| death_place       = [[Virginia]], [[United States]]
| residence         = 
| ethnicity         = 
| fields            = [[Cognitive Psychology]], [[Cognitive science]], [[Cognitive revolution]], [[Neuropsychology]], [[Holonomic brain theory]], Holographic consciousness
| workplaces        = [[Yale University]], [[Stanford University]], [[Radford University]], [[Georgetown University]], [[George Mason University]]
| alma_mater        = [[University of Chicago]] <small>([[Bachelor of Science|B.S.]], 1938; [[Doctor of Medicine|M.D.]], 1941)</small> [[Culver Military Academy]] (Man of the Year)
| doctoral_students = {{unbulleted list|[[Lawrence Weiskrantz]]|[[Walter Jackson Freeman III]]|[[Mortimer Mishkin]]}}
| notable_students  = [[Leslie Ungerleider]]
| religion          = 
| spouse            = {{unbulleted list|Helen Bermingham Pribram|Amy Isle Pribram|[[Katherine Neville (author)|Katherine Neville]]}}
| partner           = 
| footnotes         = 
| website           = {{URL|https://karlpribram.com/}}
}}

'''Karl Harry Pribram''' ([[Help:IPA/Czech|[ˈpr̝̊iːbram]]]) (February 25, 1919 – January 19, 2015) was an American-Austrian researcher in the fields of [[cognitive psychology]], [[cognitive science]], [[neuropsychology]], [[holonomic brain theory]], and holographic consciousness. He was a professor at [[Georgetown University]] and an emeritus professor at [[Stanford University]] at the time of his death.  Before moving to Georgetown, he was the James P. and Anna King Distinguished Professor at [[Radford University]]. He was known for his work on the [[limbic system]].

== Major Contributions ==

=== Cognitive revolution in psychology ===
''Plans and the Structure of Behavior'' (1960), co-written with [[George Armitage Miller]] and [[Eugene Galanter]], is widely credited as a seminal work in the development of the field of [[cognitive psychology]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boden |first=Margaret A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4BAGY-UR2xEC |title=Mind as Machine: A History of Cognitive Science |date=2006 |publisher=Clarendon Press |isbn=978-0-19-924144-6 |language=en}}</ref> This work fueled the [[cognitive revolution]], which established cognitive psychology as the dominant trend in psychology, replacing [[behaviorism]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Pribram |first=Karl |url=https://www.sfn.org/-/media/SfN/Documents/TheHistoryofNeuroscience/Volume-2/c11.pdf |title=The History of Neuroscience in Autobiography |publisher=Academic Press: Society for Neuroscience |year=1999 |isbn=9780126603026 |editor-last=Squire |editor-first=Larry |volume=2 |pages=306–349}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Thagard |first=Paul |title=Cognitive Science |date=2023 |encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/cognitive-science/ |access-date=2025-03-12 |edition=Winter 2023 |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |editor2-last=Nodelman |editor2-first=Uri}}</ref>

=== Emotional processes and the limbic system ===
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Pribram became "recognized for pioneering research defining the boundaries of the limbic system."<ref name=":8" /> Through more than 50 surgical experiments, Pribram's laboratory was able to establish that the [[limbic system]], governing emotions, also interacted with the executive functions of the [[prefrontal cortex]], governing personality, decision making, and social behavior.<ref name=":2" /> He discovered the "sensory specific" functions of the [[Association cortex]], revealing that these systems organize the choices we make among sensory inputs, which supports higher order cognitive processes, such as perception, language and thought.<ref name=":8" />

In 1958, Pribram coined the term "the [[Four Fs (evolution)|Four F's]]" ("Feeding, Fighting, Fleeing and Sex") to describe the functions of the fronto-limbic system (the limbic system including the pre-frontal and association cortex).<ref>Pribram, Karl. (2003). A Review of Theory in Physiological Psychology. Ann. rev. Psychol.. 11. 1-40. 10.1146/annurev.ps.11.020160.000245.</ref> Additionally, through extensive laboratory testing with primates, Pribram and his students discovered that removal of the amygdala from these systems affected this set of behaviors, resulting in reset of hierarchical relationships within the group.<ref name=":2" />

=== Sensory processes and memory ===
Pribram’s work ''Brain and Perception: Holonomy and Structure in Figural Processing'' (1991) conveyed his theory, based on experimental evidence, that sensory perception, along with memory storage and retrieval, is processed through dendritic fields, in a manner similar to [[quantum field theory]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Alemdar |first1=E. |last2=Poznanski |first2=R. R. |last3=Cacha |first3=L.A. |last4=Leisman |first4=G. |last5=Brändas |first5=E. J. |date=2023 |title=New insights into holonomic brain theory: implications for active consciousness |url=https://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1825150/FULLTEXT01 |journal=Journal of Multiscale Neuroscience |volume=2 |pages=159–168 |doi=10.56280/1561870661 |via=Uppsala University}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Pribram |first=K.H. |chapter=Dendritic microprocesses and neural activity: Implications for neural network modeling |date=October 1992 |title=&#91;Proceedings&#93; 1992 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics |pages=67–71 vol.1 |doi=10.1109/ICSMC.1992.271800|isbn=0-7803-0720-8 }}</ref>

Pribram describes his discovery, through extensive experiments with graduate students [[Mortimer Mishkin]], [[John Robert Anderson (psychologist)|John Robert Anderson]], and [[Leslie Ungerleider]], of the importance of the [[inferior temporal cortex]]'s role in vision.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":10" /> Until this discovery, the temporal lobe was thought to be devoted to hearing.<ref name=":2" />

In ''Brain and Perception'', Pribram also addresses the longstanding question of whether brain functions are distributed or localized. He “emphasizes the fact that ''both'' distributed (holistic) ''and'' localized (structural) processes characterize brain function.”<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last1=Přibram |first1=Karl H. |title=Brain and perception: holonomy and structure in figural processing |last2=Yasue |first2=Kunio |date=1991 |publisher=Erlbaum |isbn=978-0-89859-995-4 |edition=1. [print.] |location=Hillsdale, NJ}}</ref> He further analyzes wave-type input received by our senses (touch, taste, smell, sound and sight) through lens-like receptors (e.g., the [[cochlea]] for sound waves).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Comparison between Karl Pribram's "Holographic Brain Theory" and ore conventional models of neuronal computation |url=http://www.acsa2000.net/bcngroup/jponkp/ |access-date=2025-03-12 |website=www.acsa2000.net}}</ref>

Pribram provides models of his experimental data, developed with the Japanese mathematical physicists Kunio Yasue and Mari Jibu, in order to demonstrate how we receive, perceive, and retrieve information from the outside world ("navigate" our world).<ref name=":6" />

=== Holonomic model ===
{{main|Holonomic brain theory|Holographic consciousness}}

{{Neuropsychology}}
Karl Pribram first explored the metaphor of information storage in the brain as a hologram in his ''Languages of the Brain: Experimental Paradoxes and Principles in Neuropsychology'' (1971).<ref name=":2" /> In a 1974 review of ''Languages'', in ''Behavioral Science Journal'', R.P McDermott and Laurence Mucciolo stated "The book's contribution to neuropsychology will be hailed, developed and disputed for years to come."<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |last1=McDermott |first1=R. P. |last2=Mucciolo |first2=Laurence F. |date=1974 |title=Karl H. Pribram. Languages of the brain: Experimental paradoxes and principles in neuropsychology. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1971, 432 pp. |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bs.3830190508 |journal=Behavioral Science |language=en |volume=19 |issue=5 |pages=351–354 |doi=10.1002/bs.3830190508 |issn=1099-1743|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Pribram's holonomic model of brain processing is further developed in ''Brain and Perception: Holonomy and Structure in Figural Processing'' (1991), which contains the extension of his work with [[David Bohm]], as well as numerous quantum and mathematical physicists. This theory - derived from 40 years of laboratory experiments and hundreds of tests - demonstrates the following: that certain brain processes, such as memory, do not take place solely through the [[axon]]s, [[synapse]]s, or reflex-type actions but rather through a concerted, ever-changing process that operates similarly to [[quantum field theory]].<ref name=":2" /> Processing occurs in the neuron's felt-like fields of fine-fibered dendrites (branches), as well as in the dynamic electrical fields that surround these dendrites.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":5" />

Hence, Karl Pribram's holonomic brain theory demonstrates that some brain processes are distributed (non-localized) in the form of interference wave patterns, and can interact on a quantum level.<ref name=":8">{{Citation |last1=Cassidy |first1=Adam |title=Pribram, Karl H. (1919– ) |date=2011 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology |pages=2015–2017 |editor-last=Kreutzer |editor-first=Jeffrey S. |url=https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-0-387-79948-3_650 |access-date=2025-02-12 |place=New York, NY |publisher=Springer |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-0-387-79948-3_650 |isbn=978-0-387-79948-3 |last2=Stringer |first2=Anthony Y. |editor2-last=DeLuca |editor2-first=John |editor3-last=Caplan |editor3-first=Bruce|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pribram |first1=Karl H. |last2=Meade |first2=Shelli D. |date=1999-12-01 |title=Conscious awareness: processing in the synaptodendritic web |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0732118X99000240 |journal=New Ideas in Psychology |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=205–214 |doi=10.1016/S0732-118X(99)00024-0 |issn=0732-118X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Pribram based his initial theory on the [[Fourier transform|Fourier Transform]], which enables one to analyze any repeated wave-form. After numerous conversations with Nobel Laureate [[Gábor Dénes]] [<nowiki/>[[Dennis Gabor]]] inventor of [[holography]], Pribram expanded his model to incorporate Gabor’s holographic model of information storage into Pribram's holonomic theory of brain processing.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ash |first=Eric A. |date=August 1979 |title=Dennis Gabor, 1900-1979 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/280431a0 |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=280 |issue=5721 |pages=431–433 |doi=10.1038/280431a0 |pmid=379651 |bibcode=1979Natur.280..431A |issn=1476-4687}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |date=2006-05-18 |title=Karl Pribram: interview mind-brain relationship |url=http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~sai/pribram.htm |access-date=2025-02-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060518075852/http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~sai/pribram.htm |archive-date=2006-05-18}}</ref>

=== The past and future of brain research ===
Pribram’s last important publication, published two years before his death, is ''The Form Within: My Point of View'' (2013). In this scientific memoir, Pribram describes 200 years of the interrelationships among the fields of brain research, neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy, coupled with his personal insights derived from 75 years of active participation in all of these fields. Pribram shares his hands-on research, as well as his publications with colleagues over the decades, and his intimate interactions with well-known figures in philosophy, psychology, physics, and neuroscience, including: Nobel Laureates [[John Eccles (neurophysiologist)|Sir John Eccles]], [[Ilya Prigogine]], [[Dennis Gabor]], [[Francis Crick]], [[David H. Hubel|Hubel]] and [[Torsten Wiesel|Wiesel]]; and scientists such as [[B. F. Skinner]], [[Wolfgang Köhler|Wolfgang Kohler]], [[Karl Lashley]], [[Alexander Luria|Aleksandr Romanovitch Luria]], [[Eugene Sokolov]], [[David Bohm]], and many others.

''The Form Within'' is widely regarded as a ''tour de force'' in the history of brain research, described by the ''[[Journal of Integrative Neuroscience]]'' as, "... an amazingly clear, voluminously detailed, yet easily accessible description of [Pribram's] experiments over the past seven decades in [[neurocognition]] by man and animals."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Freeman |first=Walter J |date=24 June 2014 |title=Book Review: "Karl H Pribram (2013) The Form Within: My Point of View" |url=https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0219635214800028?srsltid=AfmBOopzT71YB8yF4SuEmWJRsbwJSaMyQAWPC_iivg2AJDoz_lWUYEZw&journalCode=jin |journal=[[Journal of Integrative Neuroscience]] |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=429–433 |doi=10.1142/S0219635214800028 |issn=0219-6352|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== Career ==

=== Private practice and Yerkes ===
In the 1940s, Pribram became one of the first 300 board-certified neurosurgeons in the world after receiving his MD from [[University of Chicago]] at the age of 22. <ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Karl H. Pribram – The International Neuropsychological Society |url=https://the-ins.org/our-ins-family/karl-h-pribram/ |access-date=2025-02-10 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":7" />
 During his education and residency, he studied under or collaborated with such luminaries as [[Anton Julius Carlson|Anton Carlson]], [[Ralph W. Gerard|Ralph Gerard]], [[Percival Bailey]], and [[Warren Sturgis McCulloch|Warren McCullock]]. At Chicago Memorial Hospital Pribram was the first resident under [[Paul Bucy]], the pioneer in the study of the temporal lobe, which later influenced Pribram’s discoveries in that field. Bucy arranged for Pribram to complete his residency with Eric Oldberg, the last of [[Harvey Cushing]]'s residents who received individual training by Cushing.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARl6R8bGrI8 |title=Eric Oldberg, MD interviewed by Roy C. Selby, MD |date=2015-10-23 |last=American Association of Neurological Surgeons |access-date=2025-05-21 |via=YouTube}}</ref><ref name=":2" />

Throughout his life, Pribram would engage in pioneering work on the definition of the [[limbic system]], the relationship of the [[frontal cortex]] to the limbic system, the sensory-specific association cortex of the [[parietal lobe|parietal]] and [[temporal lobe]]s, and the classical [[motor cortex]] of the human [[brain]].<ref name=":2" />

During his first ten years of residency and as a practicing brain surgeon in Memphis, TN, and Jacksonville, FL, Pribram became concerned about the then-accepted practice of lobotomy and set out to discover the true function of the frontal lobes, which was unknown at that time. This quest led Pribram into the field of brain research, which resulted in the discovery that the frontal lobes are the critical "executors" of the brain.<ref name=":2" />

While still in private practice as a surgeon in Florida, Pribram simultaneously offered his services to [[Karl Lashley]] at the [[Yerkes Primate Center]] (''Yerkes Laboratories of Primate Biology''), and there continued his research into the relationship between brain function and mental processes. Lashley shared techniques and disciplines in the field of experimental psychology, while Pribram “added neurosurgical sophistication” and sterility practices to the field of primate neurological research.<ref name=":11" /><ref name=":2" /> Pribram's colleagues at Yerkes included [[Roger Wolcott Sperry|Roger Sperry]] and [[Donald O. Hebb|Donald Hebb]].<ref name=":12">{{Cite web |title=Introduction to the Symposium in Honor of Karl H Pribram |url=https://c.coek.info/pdf-introduction-to-the-symposium-in-honor-of-karl-h-pribram-.html |access-date=2025-05-21 |website=c.coek.info}}</ref> Shortly after the end of WWII, Pribram succeeded Lashley as director of Yerkes; under his tenure the field of animal neuropsychology expanded and flourished.<ref name=":11">{{Cite journal |last1=LeDoux |first1=Joseph E |last2=Michel |first2=Matthias |last3=Lau |first3=Hakwan |date=2020-03-13 |title=A little history goes a long way toward understanding why we study consciousness the way we do today |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |language=en |volume=117 |issue=13 |pages=6976–6984 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1921623117 |doi-access=free |pmid=32170012 |pmc=7132279 |bibcode=2020PNAS..117.6976L }}</ref>

These early years would prove to be influential in Pribram's development of theories about the structure of the brain and related mental processes.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2008-08-04 |title=Independent Scientific Thinker |url=https://www.austrianinformation.org/may-june-2008/independent-scientific-thinker.html |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=New Austrian |language=en-US}}</ref> Two of the earliest discoveries Pribram made while at Yerkes were as follows: 1) the relationship between the frontal cortex (personality, decision making, and social behavior) and the limbic forebrain (emotions); and 2) the functions of the posterior cortex (visual processing, spatial reasoning, and memory).<ref name=":2" />

=== Yale University and the Institute of Living (1948-1959) ===
In 1948, Pribram was invited by Professor [[John Farquhar Fulton|John Fulton]] (author of ''Physiology of the Nervous System'') to join the Department of Physiology at [[Yale University]]. Pribram began his research there focusing on understanding the functions of the inferior temporal lobe. This research led to Pribram’s discoveries about the relationship between the anterior frontal cortex (decision-making and complex problem-solving) and the limbic forebrain (sensory processing).<ref name=":2" /> His colleagues, collaborators, and graduate students at Yale included Allan Mirsky, Hal Rosvold, [[Paul D. MacLean|Paul Maclean]], Lawrence Kruger,<ref>{{Citation |title=Lawrence Kruger |date=2009-03-01 |work=The History of Neuroscience in Autobiography Volume 6 |pages=0 |editor-last=Squire |editor-first=Larry R. |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/4009/chapter-abstract/145648468?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false |access-date=2025-05-21 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-538010-1 |editor2-last=Squire |editor2-first=Larry R}}</ref> [[Robert Livingston (scientist)|Robert Livingston]], and James Stevenson.<ref name=":12" />

Additionally, Pribram worked with [[Wolfgang Köhler]] (Swarthmore/Dartmouth) to test Kohler’s hypothesis of Direct Current as the basis for cortical processing. Pribram was able to demonstrate that there was indeed a Direct Current shift during visual (and auditory) stimulation.<ref name=":2" />

While at Yale, Pribram established and directed the [[Psychophysiology]] Laboratory at the [[Institute of Living]] in Hartford, which “became a mecca for students intensely interested in the relationship between brain and behavior.”<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":11" /> As Director of the Psychophysiology Laboratory, Pribram would conduct some of the earliest research on brain circuitry. The years of this laboratory under Pribram’s leadership has been called “The Golden Age of Primate Neuropsychology."<ref name=":12" />

During this time, Pribram also established relationships with psychologists at [[Harvard University]] and “learned a great deal from [[Stanley Smith Stevens|S.S. Stevens]], [[Edwin Boring|Gary Boring]], and [[Georg von Békésy|Georg von Bekesy]].” Additionally, Pribram noted that his collaboration with [[B. F. Skinner|B.F. Skinner]] at Harvard, “led to a decade of primate operant conditioning experiments, which developed into subsequent research in [[cognitive neuropsychology]].”<ref name=":2" /> Pribram’s further interactions and experiments with behavioral scientists ultimately led him to develop new areas of research that went beyond behaviorism, and looked instead to “the new neurology… a cognitive science which paid heed to the brain’s control over its own input from the senses.” This expanded approach to cognitive science is detailed in ''Plans and the Structure of Behavior'' (Galanter, Miller, Pribram, 1960), launching the “Cognitive Revolution.”<ref name=":2" />

Among his students at that time were [[Lawrence Weiskrantz]], [[Walter Jackson Freeman III|Walter Freeman III]] and [[Mortimer Mishkin]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The IOL/HH Psychology Recognition Day to be held on August 16th |url=https://instituteofliving.org/file%20library/news%20and%20press/news_notes_2016.pdf |access-date=10 February 2025 |publisher=The Institute of Living}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{Cite web |title=Obituary - Mortimer Mishkin (1926–2021): A life of science with humility and grace |url=https://www.cell.com/neuron/pdf/S0896-6273(21)00838-2.pdf |access-date=25 February 2025 |website=Cell.com }}</ref>

=== Stanford University (1959-1989) ===
After his tenure at Yale, Pribram moved to the [[Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences]] at [[Stanford University]]. For the next 30 years he taught [[neurophysiology]] and [[physiological psychology]] at Stanford with joint appointments in the Department of Psychiatry (Medical School Faculty) and of Psychology (Arts and Sciences Faculty).

During this time, Pribram pioneered the field of [[neuropsychology]], leading groundbreaking research into the interrelations of the brain, behavior, and cognition.<ref name=":1" />

At Stanford, a part-time secretary, Barbara Honegger, filed a complaint alleging that Pribram had "denied [her] a job rank she was entitled to" while further alleging that Pribram had "struck her in the head." Pribram was placed on temporary probation by Stanford, while Honegger received a parting out-of-court settlement from the school.<ref>{{cite news |last=Cummings |first=Judith |date=August 30, 1983 |title=Friends Say Feminist Heroine is Sincere if Eccentric |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/08/30/us/friends-say-feminist-heroine-is-sincere-if-eccentric.html |access-date=November 6, 2020 |work=New York Times}}</ref>

While a Professor at Stanford, with joint appointments in the departments of [[Psychology]] and [[Psychiatry]], Pribram was honored with a Lifetime Grant from the US Office of Naval Research as well as a Lifetime Research Career Award from the [[National Institutes of Health]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2015-02-05 |title=2000 Culver Man of the Year - Dr. Karl Pribram by Culver Academies - Issuu |url=https://issuu.com/culveracademies/docs/the_einstein_of_brain_science/1 |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=issuu.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Pribram |first=Karl H. |title=The Form Within: My Point of View |date=February 19, 2013 |publisher=Prospecta Press |isbn=978-1935212805}}</ref>

Upon becoming emeritus at Stanford University, Pribram accepted the position of the James P. and Anna King Distinguished Professor at [[Radford University]] and, in 1989, was appointed Eminent Scholar of the [[Virginia|Commonwealth of Virginia]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Pribram Receives Havel Prize For Work in Neuroscience |url=https://thehoya.com/uncategorized/pribram-receives-havel-prize-for-work-in-neuroscience/ |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=The Hoya}}</ref> Radford built the Center for Brain Research and Informational Sciences (B.R.A.I.N.S.) for Pribram to direct with the support of Alastair Harris, chair of the psychology department.<ref name=":2" />

After 60 years of leading research and development in the field of brain research, Pribram was appointed [[Distinguished professor|Distinguished Professor]] of [[Psychology]] and [[Cognitive neuroscience|Cognitive Neuroscience]] at [[Georgetown University]] in 1998.<ref name=":4" /> Simultaneously, he was appointed Distinguished Professor in the [[Engineering]] and [[Computer science|Computer Science]] Department at [[George Mason University]].<ref name=":1" />

== Influence on other researchers ==
Over fifty doctoral and fifty postdoctoral fellows were trained in the neuropsychological laboratories at Yale and Stanford under Pribram’s direction.<ref name=":2" />

During Pribram's tenure at Yale, while simultaneously directing the Psychophysiology Laboratory at the Institute for Living, many young researchers were able to explore the importance of utilizing psychology combined with neurophysiology, including [[Lawrence Weiskrantz]] (Harvard) and [[Mortimer Mishkin]] (McGill).<ref name=":2" />

At Stanford, [[Leslie Ungerleider]] (noted [[Experimental psychology|experimental psychologist]] and [[neuroscientist]]) was among those who made major contributions.<ref name=":2" />

== Accolades ==
Karl Pribram was the recipient of more than seventy major international awards and honors, including a Lifetime Grant from the [[Office of Naval Research|US Office of Naval Research]], the  Lifetime Research Career Award from the [[National Institutes of Health]], the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Experimental Psychology, the Award for Distinguished Career in Science from the Washington Academy of Sciences, the Neural Network Leadership Award from the International Neural Network Society, and the Outstanding Contributions Award from the American Board of Medical Psychotherapists.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":7" />

He was granted an Honorary Doctorate in Psychology from the [[University of Montreal]], Canada, and an Honorary Doctorate in Neuroscience from the [[University of Bremen]], Germany.<ref name=":0" />

Pribram was presented the inaugural Dagmar and Vaclav Havel Award ([[The VIZE 97 Prize]]) in 1999 for uniting the sciences and the humanities.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-07-18 |title=Foundation VIZE 97 - Laureates |url=http://www.vize.cz/en/laureates.php |access-date=2025-02-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718192353/http://www.vize.cz/en/laureates.php |archive-date=2011-07-18}}</ref> The award was created to honor significant individuals whose work transcends the conventional framework of scientific understanding.<ref name=":3" /> [[Václav Havel|Vaclav Havel]], President of the Czech Republic, declared, “[Pribram] is an example to people of different fields and orientations, such as neurologists, psychologists, mathematicians, scientists and philosophers. It is a wonder to see people from all over the world united by one purpose when so often the world is divided by distrust and small disparities.”<ref name=":4" />

=== Selected Honors and Awards ===
Source:<ref name=":2" />
* Lifetime Grant, US Office of Naval Research
* Lifetime Research Career Award, National Institutes of Health (1962)
* Lifetime Achievement Award, Society of Experimental Psychology
* President of the International Neuropsychological Society (1967)
* American Psychological Association 
** Division of Physiological and Comparative Psychology (President, 1967-1968) 
** Division of Theological and Philosophical Psychology (President, 1979-1980)
* Menfred Sakel Award, Society for Biological Psychiatry (1976) 
* Realia Honor, Institute for Advanced Philosophic Research (1986) 
* Outstanding Contributions Award, American Board of Medical Psychotherapists (1990) 
* Honorary Ph.D. in Psychology, University of Montreal, Canada (1992)
* Neural Network Leadership Award, International Neural Network Society (1994) 
* Honorary Ph.D. in Neuroscience, University of Bremen, Germany (1996)
* The Noetic Medal of Consciousness & Brain Research (1998)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-06-05 |title=THE NOETIC MEDAL OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND BRAIN RESEARCH |url=http://www.mindspring.com/~quantum.computing/ |access-date=2025-02-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605084722/http://www.mindspring.com/~quantum.computing/ |archive-date=2011-06-05}}</ref>
* First recipient of the Dagmar and Vaclav Havel Award: The VIZE 97 Prize (1999)
* Culver Man of the Year, Culver Military Academy (2000)<ref name=":0" />
* Award for Distinguished Career in Science, Washington Academy of Sciences (2010)

== In popular culture ==

=== The Holographic Universe===
{{more|The Holographic Universe}}
Michael Talbot opened the acknowledgements section of his work with the note, "David Bohm, Ph.D., and Karl Pribram, Ph.D., who were generous with both their time and their ideas, and without whose work this book would not have been written."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Talbot |first=Michael |title=The Holographic Universe: The Revolutionary Theory of Reality |date=September 6, 2011 |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |isbn=9780062014108}}</ref>

=== The Aquarian Conspiracy ===
[[Marilyn Ferguson]] summarized and interpreted Karl Pribram's holonomic model of brain processing in her popular book, ''[[The Aquarian Conspiracy]]'' (1980).  In the book she also describes how Pribram's son, John Pribram, Ph.D, introduced him to the work of David Bohm, leading to the further development of Pribram's [[holonomic brain theory]]. Additionally, Ferguson produced the [[Marilyn Ferguson#The Brain Revolution and Brain/Mind Bulletin|Brain/Mind Bulletin]], a science newsletter dedicated to sharing cutting-edge research from prominent scientists and theorists including Pribram, [[David Bohm|Bohm]], and [[Ilya Prigogine|Prigogine]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Book Reviews, Sites, Romance, Fantasy, Fiction |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/marilyn-ferguson/the-aquarian-conspiracy-personal-and-social-tra/ |access-date=2025-02-14 |website=Kirkus Reviews |language=en}}</ref>

=== SyberVision ===
Steve DeVore, the founder of SyberVision, worked as a research assistant to Pribram at Stanford, where he would investigate the function of mirror neurons. Together they published ''The Neuropsychology of Achievement'' which proposed the concept of creating an "image of achievement" to attain one's goals.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Neuropsychology of Weight Control Buddy Download Page |url=https://sybervision.com/marriagedl/#aboutsv2 |access-date=2025-02-14 |website=sybervision.com}}</ref>

=== Feldenkrais Foundation ===
While at Stanford, Pribram was introduced to Dr. Moshé Feldenkrais, the founder of the [[Feldenkrais method|Feldenkrais Method]]. Pribram would later visit Feldenkrais' training program in California where they engaged in a series of conversations focused on the holographic and dynamic qualities of brain functioning.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Karl Pribram {{!}} brain research {{!}} Feldenkrais work |url=https://www.feldenkraismethod.com/his-life/karl-pribram-moshe-feldenkrais |access-date=2025-02-14 |website=Moshe Feldenkrais |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Selected books==
*Hamburg, D. A., Pribram, K. H., and Stunkard, A. J. (Eds.) (1970) ''Perception and Its Disorders''. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins.

*Hyden, H., Lorenz, K., Magoun, H.W., Penfield, W., and Pribram, K.H. (Eds) (1969) ''On the Biology of Learning''. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc.

*King, J. S., and Pribram, K.H., (Eds.) (1995) ''Scale in Conscious Experience: Is the Brain Too Important to be Left to Specialists to Study?'', New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. {{ISBN|0-8058-2178-3}}

*Miller, G. A., Galanter, E., and Pribram, K. H. (1960) ''Plans and the Structure of Behavior''. New York: Henry Holt, 1960. (Russian trans; also in Japanese, German, Spanish, Italian.) {{ISBN|0-03-010075-5}}

*Isaacson, R. L., and Pribram, K. H. (Eds.) (1975) ''The Hippocampus'', Volumes I and II. New York: Plenum. {{ISBN|0-306-37535-4}}

*Isaacson, R. L., and Pribram, K. H. (Eds.) (1986) ''The Hippocampus'', Volumes III and IV. New York: Plenum.

*Pribram, K. H., and Broadbent, D. (Eds.) (1970) ''Biology of Memory''. New York: Academic Press. {{ISBN|0-12-564350-0}}

*Pribram, K. H., and Gill, M. M. (1976) ''Freud’s `Project’ Re-Assessed: Preface to Contemporary Cognitive Theory and Neuropsychology''. New York: Basic Books. {{ISBN|0-465-02569-2}}

*Pribram, K.H., and King, J.S. (Eds.) (1996) ''Learning as Self-Organization''. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. {{ISBN|0-8058-2586-X}}

*Pribram, K. H., and Luria, A. R. (Eds.) (1973) ''Psychophysiology of the Frontal Lobes''. New York: Academic Press. {{ISBN|0-12-564340-3}}

*Pribram, K.H., and Ramirez, J.M. (1980) ''Cerebro, Mente y Holograma''. Madrid: Alhambra.

*Pribram, K. H. (Ed.) (1969) ''Brain and Behavior'', Volumes I-IV. London: Penguin, Ltd. {{ISBN|0-14-080521-4}}

*Pribram, K. H. (1971) ''What Makes Man Human''. (39th James Arthur Lecture on the Evolution of the Human Brain, 1970). New York: American Museum of Natural History.

*Pribram, K. H. (1971) ''Languages of the Brain: Experimental Paradoxes and Principles in Neuropsychology''. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall; Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole, 1977; New York: Brandon House, 1982. (Translations in Russian, Japanese, Italian, Spanish)

*Pribram, K. H. (Ed.) (1974) ''Central Processing of Sensory Input''. The Neurosciences: Third Study Program. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

*Pribram, K. H. (1991) ''Brain and Perception: Holonomy and Structure in Figural Processing''. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-89859-995-4}}

*Pribram, K.H. (Ed.) (1993) ''Rethinking Neural Networks: Quantum Fields and Biological Data''. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. {{ISBN|0-8058-1466-3}}

*Pribram, K.H. (Ed.) (1994) ''Origins: Brain & Self Organization''. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. {{ISBN|978-1-138-87652-1}}

*Pribram, K.H. (1995) ''Cerebro Y Conciencia''. Madrid, Spain: Diaz de Santos.

*Pribram, K.H. (Ed.) (1998) ''Brain and Values: Is a Biological Science of Values Possible''. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. {{ISBN|0-8058-3154-1}}

*Pribram, K.H. (2013) ''The Form Within''. Prospecta Press. {{ISBN|978-1-935212-80-5}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://karlpribram.com Karl Pribram's Website] karlpribram.com
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOnxSqze98 Karl Pribram, MD interviewed by Howard Kaufman, MD] (American Association of Neurological Surgeons)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBhEGgzyylg&list=PL674B110076304B83&index=6&t=30s Meeting of the Minds: Interview with Karl Pribram]
* [https://www.katherineneville.com/about-katherine/wall-of-friends/karl-and-friends-gallery/ Photos of Karl Pribram with friends and colleagues (KatherineNeville.com)]

{{The VIZE 97 Prize}}
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