astronomy

Michael Shadlen

Michael Shadlen is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Michael Shadlen rather than just read about it. In short: Michael Neil Shadlen (born August 19, 1959) is an American neuroscientist and neurologist, whose research concerns the neural mechanisms of decision-making. He has been Professor of Neuroscience at Columbia University since 2012 and a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator since 2000.

Key takeaways

Michael Shadlen belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Michael Shadlen to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Michael Shadlen from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Michael Neil Shadlen (born August 19, 1959) is an American neuroscientist and neurologist, whose research concerns the neural mechanisms of decision-making. He has been Professor of Neuroscience at Columbia University since 2012 and a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator since 2000. He is a member of the Kavli Institute for Brain Science, a Principal Investigator at the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute and an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and National Academy of Sciences. Shadlen is a jazz guitarist and interested in the relation between jazz and neuroscience.

Education Shadlen earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology at Brown University in 1981. He completed his Ph.D. in neurobiology at the University of California, Berkeley in 1985 under the direction of Ralph D. Freeman. Shadlen completed his M.D. at Brown University's Alpert Medical School in 1988.

Career Shadlen completed his residency at Stanford University School of Medicine where he was Chief Resident from 1991 to 1992 and Clinical Instructor from 1993 to 1994. He pursued neuroscience as a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford in the lab of William Newsome before joining the faculty of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Washington. Shadlen became a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator in 2000. Shadlen joined Columbia University in 2012 as Professor of Neuroscience. Нe is a member of the editorial board for Current Biology.

Awards and honors Shadlen was elected a Member of the National Academy of Medicine in 2014 and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2015. Other awards include:

1995-1997 McKnight Scholar Award 2007 Swartz foundation Mind-Brain Lecture, Stony Brook University 2009 Alden Spencer Prize, Columbia University 2012 Golden Brain Award of the Minerva Foundation 2014 Fellow of Association for Psychological Science 2017 Karl Spencer Lashley Award, American Philosophical Society

References

External links Neurotree

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Michael Shadlen

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Michael Shadlen claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Michael Shadlen before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Michael Shadlen ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Michael Shadlen

In research: Michael Shadlen appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Michael Shadlen in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Michael Shadlen is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1959 births, Alpert Medical School alumni, American science teachers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Michael Shadlen outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Michael Shadlen in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Michael Shadlen means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Michael Shadlen out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Michael Shadlen in simple terms?

Why does Michael Shadlen matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Michael Shadlen?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Michael Shadlen.