Martha Helson Wilson (1929-2020)

Memorializes Martha Helson Wilson (1929-2020), a physiological psychologist. Martha enrolled at Yale University for doctoral study in 1952, where she studied the physiological aspects of sensation with Burton Rosner. She also developed skills in electrophysiology under the direction of Karl Pribram, who became her career-long mentor, collaborator, and friend. In Pribram's Laboratory of Neurophysiology at the Institute of Living in Hartford, Connecticut, Martha met William A. Wilson, another lifelong collaborator as well as her husband for 62 years. Her behavioral investigations of intersensory learning were mainstream comparative psychology, as were her innovative studies of category learning that bridged animal research and human clinical neuropsychology, a field Wilson entered via her 1979 sabbatical with Brenda Milner at the Montreal Neurological Institute. Martha Wilson used this broad knowledge and experience to lead APA Division 6 (Physiological and Comparative Psychology)as its secretary-treasurer, executive committee member-at-large, representative to the Council of Representatives, president-elect, president (1986 -1987), and past president. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).