Oscar Marin and the Creation of a Cognitive Neuropsychology Laboratory

During the 1980s, the Cognitive Neuropsychology Laboratory at Good Samaritan Hospital, Portland, Oregon, made important strides in the study of brain injury. Created and headed by Oscar Marin and the author, in affiliation with the University of Oregon, the lab brought together students, fellows, and visiting experts in neurology, psychology, psychiatry, neuropsychology, neurobiology, neurophysiology, and computation. Their patient-focused collaborations produced groundbreaking research in language and its disorders, bradyphrenia, neglect, cerebellar function and impairment, and the psychology of music. The lab hosted the meeting that they documented in the influential 1985 book Attention and Performance XI: Mechanisms of Attention. The lab's members have gone on to lead distinguished careers and continue making major contributions to cognitive neuroscience.