astronomy

Paul D. MacLean

Paul D. MacLean 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 Paul D. MacLean rather than just read about it. In short: Paul Donald MacLean (May 1, 1913 – December 26, 2007) was an American physician and neuroscientist who made significant contributions in the fields of physiology, psychiatry, and brain research through his work at Yale Medical School and the National Institute of Mental Health. MacLean's evolutionary triune brain theory proposed that the human brain was in reality three brains in one: the reptilian complex, the limb…

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Paul Donald MacLean (May 1, 1913 – December 26, 2007) was an American physician and neuroscientist who made significant contributions in the fields of physiology, psychiatry, and brain research through his work at Yale Medical School and the National Institute of Mental Health. MacLean's evolutionary triune brain theory proposed that the human brain was in reality three brains in one: the reptilian complex, the limbic system, and the neocortex.

Early life and education Paul D. MacLean was born in Phelps, New York, the third of four sons of a Presbyterian minister. He received his bachelor's degree in English from Yale University in 1935 and intended to study philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, but after a family illness, spent a year completing pre-medical work in Edinburgh instead. MacLean received his medical degree from Yale in 1940.

Work During World War II, MacLean served as a medical officer in the United States Army from 1942 to 1946. During his service with Yale's 39th General Hospital Brigade in New Zealand, MacLean worked together with Dr. Averill Liebow to show that the diphtheria bacillus was a cause of tropical ulcers, paving the way for successful prophylaxis and treatment. After leaving the Army in 1946, MacLean practiced medicine in Seattle, and held a clinical appointment at the University of Washington Medical School. From 1947 to 1949, MacLean was a United States Public Health Service Fellow at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital, studying with Dr. Stanley Cobb. During this time, MacLean did research on psychomotor epilepsy, and published his paper on the "visceral brain", for which he introduced the term "limbic system" in 1952). In 1949, MacLean joined the faculty of the Yale Medical School with a joint appointment in physiology and psychiatry. During his time at Yale, he also studied the brain mechanisms of emotion with Dr. John Fulton. It was during this period that MacLean began to define his theory of the triune brain which would become the foundation of his research throughout his career. In 1956, MacLean became associate professor of physiology. He spent a year on a National Science Foundation Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Institute of Physiology in Zürich, Switzerland. In 1957, MacLean went to the National Institutes of Health as the head of a new section on the limbic system in the Laboratory of Neurophysiology, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). MacLean received the Distinguished Research Award of the Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Disease in 1964, and in 1966 gave the Thomas William Salmon Lectures at the New York Academy of Medicine. MacLean also received the G. Burroughs Mider Lectureship Award from the NIH in 1972. In 1971 MacLean became the Chief of the Laboratory of Brain Evolution and Behavior, NIMH, newly opened in Poolesville, Maryland. MacLean was chief of the Laboratory of Brain Evolution and Behavior from 1971 to 1985. The laboratory was designed for comparative neurobehavioral research on animals in semi-natural conditions. MacLean retired with the NIH honor of senior research scientist, emeritus in the Department of Neurophysiology at NIMH. MacLean's ideas were popular among popular authors such as Carl Sagan and Arthur Koestler. Correspondence, photographs, research materials, reports, writings, and audiovisual materials (1936; 1944–1993) held by the National Library of Medicine document the official portion of MacLean's career in brain and behavioral research.

Death He died in Potomac, Maryland, on December 26, 2007.

See also Comparative Neuroscience at Wikiversity

Sources This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: National Library of Medicine Pearce, Jeremy (January 10, 2008). "Paul MacLean, 94, Neuroscientist Who Devised 'Triune Brain' Theory, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved June 2, 2018.

Further reading Newman, John D; Harris James C (Jan 2009). "The scientific contributions of Paul D. MacLean (1913-2007)". J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 197 (1). United States: 3–5. doi:10.1097/NMD.0b013e31818ec5d9. PMID 19155803. S2CID 52864889. Olry, Régis; Haines Duane E (Dec 2005). "NEUROwords: from Dante Alighieri's first circle to Paul Donald MacLean's limbic system". Journal of the History of the Neurosciences. 14 (4). Netherlands: 368–70. doi:10.1080/096470490944680. PMID 16338694. S2CID 33714585. Lambert, Kelly G. (2003). "The life and career of Paul MacLean: A journey toward neurobiological and social harmony". Physiology and Behavior. Vol. 79, no. 3. Elsevier. pp. 343–349. doi:10.1016/S0031-9384(03)00147-1. MacLean, Paul D. (1998). "Paul D. MacLean". In Squire, Larry R. (ed.). The history of neuroscience in autobiography. Vol. 2. Bethesda, Md: Society for Neuroscience (published 1996). pp. 242–275. ISBN 978-0-12-660302-6. OCLC 36433905.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Paul D. MacLean

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Paul D. MacLean 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 Paul D. MacLean 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 Paul D. MacLean 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 Paul D. MacLean

In research: Paul D. MacLean 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 Paul D. MacLean 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: Paul D. MacLean is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1913 births, 2007 deaths, Alumni of the University of Edinburgh, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Paul D. MacLean 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 Paul D. MacLean in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Paul D. MacLean 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 Paul D. MacLean out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Paul D. MacLean in simple terms?

Why does Paul D. MacLean 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 Paul D. MacLean?

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 Paul D. MacLean.