biology

Neil Burgess (neuroscientist)

Neil Burgess (neuroscientist) is a biology 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 Neil Burgess (neuroscientist) rather than just read about it. In short: Neil Burgess (born 13 July 1966) is a British neuroscientist. He has been a professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College London since 2004 and a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow since 2011.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Neil Burgess (born 13 July 1966) is a British neuroscientist. He has been a professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College London since 2004 and a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow since 2011. He has made important contributions to understanding memory and spatial cognition by developing computational models relating behaviour to activity in biological neural networks.

Early life and education Neil Burgess was born on 13 July 1966 in Oakington, Cambridgeshire, to Alan and Lore Burgess (née Freudenthal). He was educated at three schools in Cambridge: Newnham Croft Primary School, Parkside Community College, and Hills Road Sixth Form College. Burgess studied mathematics and physics as an undergraduate at University College London, graduating with first-class honours in 1987. He then completed postgraduate study in theoretical physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester, supervised by Michael Moore, where he began working on models of memory with Graham Hitch. Burgess was awarded a PhD in 1990.

Research and career Burgess has developed models to explain how networks of neurons allow us to represent, remember and imagine our location within the surrounding environment. These models provide a quantitative understanding of how spatial memory, episodic memory and autobiographical memory function (and dysfunction) depend on human brain activity. With Tom Hartley at the University of York and Colin Lever at Durham University he both predicted and discovered neurons representing environmental boundaries.

Awards and honours Burgess was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 2009 and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2017 having previously held a Royal Society University Research Fellowship from 1993 to 2001.

Personal life Burgess married Cathryn Jane McDowell in 1997. They have two sons and one daughter.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Neil Burgess (neuroscientist)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Neil Burgess (neuroscientist) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, 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 Neil Burgess (neuroscientist) 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 Neil Burgess (neuroscientist) 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 Neil Burgess (neuroscientist)

In research: Neil Burgess (neuroscientist) appears in biology 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 Neil Burgess (neuroscientist) 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: Neil Burgess (neuroscientist) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1966 births, 20th-century British scientists, 21st-century British scientists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Neil Burgess (neuroscientist) 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 Neil Burgess (neuroscientist) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Neil Burgess (neuroscientist) 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 Neil Burgess (neuroscientist) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Neil Burgess (neuroscientist) in simple terms?

Why does Neil Burgess (neuroscientist) matter?

Because it connects several biology 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 Neil Burgess (neuroscientist)?

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 Neil Burgess (neuroscientist).