Adrian Owen
Encyclopedia
Adrian Owen is a British neuroscientist.
, England
) completed his Ph.D.
at the Institute of Psychiatry
, London between 1988 and 1992. In 1992, Dr. Owen moved to the Cognitive Neuroscience Unit at the Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University
to work with Michael Petrides and Brenda Milner
. He was awarded The Pinsent Darwin Scholarship by the University of Cambridge
in 1996 and returned to the UK to work at the newly opened Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre
, Cambridge
. In 1997 he moved to the Medical Research Council
's Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit
(CBU), Cambridge (formally the Applied Psychology Unit) to set up the neuroimaging programme there and to pursue his research in cognitive neuroscience. He was awarded MRC tenure in 2000 and made Assistant Director of the MRC CBU in 2005, with overall responsibility for the onsite imaging facilities (3T Siemens Tim Trio MRI and 306-channel Elekta-Neuromag MEG systems).
In 2010, Dr. Owen was awarded a $10M Canada Excellence Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience and Imaging at The University of Western Ontario (UWO) and moved most of his research team to Canada
in order to take up this position in January 2011.
, Nature
, The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine. His H-Index (Web of Science
) is currently 59.
His early publications on patients with frontal or temporal-lobe excisions pioneered the use of touch screen based computerised cognitive tests in neuropsychology. Over the last 20 years, these tests have gone on to be used in more than 600 published studies of Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Depression, Schizophrenia
, Autism
, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
and ADHD, among others.
His post-doctoral research on working memory
with Michael Petrides, (PNAS
, Cerebral Cortex
, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
, Brain
and others) was instrumental in refuting the then prevailing view of lateral frontal-lobe
organisation advanced by Patricia Goldman-Rakic and others, and is still widely cited in that context. His 1996 paper on the organisation of working memory processes within the human frontal lobe continues to be one of the most highly cited articles ever to appear in the scientific journal Cerebral Cortex
.
His 2006 paper in the journal Science
demonstrated that functional neuroimaging
could be used to detect awareness in a patient who was incapable of generating any recognised behavioural response and appeared to be in a vegetative state. This landmark discovery has implications for clinical care, diagnosis, medical ethics and medical/legal decision-making (relating to the prolongation, or otherwise, of life after severe brain injury). In a follow up paper in 2010 in The New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Owen and his team used a similar method to allow a man believed to be in a vegetative state for more than 5 years to answer 'yes' and 'no' questions with responses that were generated solely by changing his patterns of fMRI activity.
This research attracted international attention from the world’s media; it was reported in many hundreds of newspapers around the world (including twice on the front page of the New York Times and other quality journals) and has been widely discussed on television (e.g. BBC News, Channel 4 News
, ITN News, Sky News, CNN), radio (e.g. BBC World Service ‘Outlook’ documentary, NPR Radio (USA), BBC Radio 1, 2, 3 and 4), in print (e.g. full featured articles in The New Yorker The Times
, The Sunday Times
, The Observer Magazine etc.) and online (including Nature
, Science
and The Guardian
podcasts). To date, the discovery has featured prominently in 6 television documentaries including 60 Minutes
(USA), Horizon (BBC TV series) (UK), Inside Out (BBC TV series)
(UK), and The History Channel
(Canada).
In 2009, Dr. Owen and his colleague, Dr. Adam Hampshire, launched Cambridge Brain Sciences, a free web-based platform for members of the public and the wider scientific community to assess their cognitive function using scientifically proven tests of memory, attention, reasoning and planning. To date, the tests on the site have been taken by more than 100,000 people world-wide.
In April 2010, Dr Owen and his team published the largest ever public test of computer-based brain training in the journal Nature
. The study, conducted in conjunction with the BBC
, showed that practice on brain training games does not transfer to other mental skills. More than 11,000 adults followed a six-week training regime, completing computer-based tasks on the BBC's website designed to improve reasoning, memory, planning, visuospatial skills and attention. Although improvements were observed in every one of the cognitive tasks that were trained, no evidence was found for 'transfer' effects to untrained tasks, even when those tasks were cognitively closely related. Details of the results were revealed on BBC1 in Can You Train Your Brain?, a Bang Goes the Theory
special and published on the same day in Nature
.
for 8 years (1997–2005) and is currently an Associate Editor for the Journal of Neuroscience
and on the Advisory Board for the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
. For four years, he has served on the Neurosciences and Mental Health Committee of the Wellcome Trust
, the UK's largest non-governmental source of funds for biomedical research. He is an Affiliated Lecturer at the University of Cambridge Department of Psychiatry and an Official Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge
.
. He has one brother, Professor Christopher J. Owen, who is Professor of Physics and Head of the Space Plasma Group at University College London
(UCL) Department of Space and Climate Physics. He also has one sister, Frances Walsh, MSc RGN who is College Nurse, Warwickshire College
, England
.
Dr. Owen plays the guitar and sings in a band called "You Jump First".
Academic History
Adrian M. Owen (born 17 May 1966, GravesendGravesend, Kent
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. It is the administrative town of the Borough of Gravesham and, because of its geographical position, has always had an important role to play in the history and communications of this part of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
) completed his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
at the Institute of Psychiatry
Institute of Psychiatry
The Institute of Psychiatry is a research institution dedicated to discovering what causes mental illness and diseases of the brain. In addition, its aim is to help identify new treatments for them and ways to prevent them in the first place...
, London between 1988 and 1992. In 1992, Dr. Owen moved to the Cognitive Neuroscience Unit at the Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University
Montreal Neurological Institute
The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital is an academic medical centre dedicated to neuroscience research, training and clinical care. The Institute is part of McGill University and the Hospital is one of the five teaching hospitals of the McGill University Health Centre, in Montreal,...
to work with Michael Petrides and Brenda Milner
Brenda Milner
Brenda Milner, is a Canadian neuroscientist who has contributed extensively to the research literature on various topics in the field of clinical neuropsychology. -Biography:...
. He was awarded The Pinsent Darwin Scholarship by the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
in 1996 and returned to the UK to work at the newly opened Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre
Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre
The Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre is a leading UK Biomedical Imaging Centre, located at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, England, on the Cambridge Bio-Medical Campus at the southwestern end of Hills Road. It is a division of the Department of Clinical Neurosciences of the University of...
, Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
. In 1997 he moved to the Medical Research Council
Medical Research Council (UK)
The Medical Research Council is a publicly-funded agency responsible for co-ordinating and funding medical research in the United Kingdom. It is one of seven Research Councils in the UK and is answerable to, although politically independent from, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills...
's Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit
Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit
The ' is a branch of the UK Medical Research Council, based in Cambridge, England. The CBSU is a world-leading centre for cognitive neuroscience, with a mission to improve human health by understanding and enhancing cognition and behaviour in health, disease and disorder...
(CBU), Cambridge (formally the Applied Psychology Unit) to set up the neuroimaging programme there and to pursue his research in cognitive neuroscience. He was awarded MRC tenure in 2000 and made Assistant Director of the MRC CBU in 2005, with overall responsibility for the onsite imaging facilities (3T Siemens Tim Trio MRI and 306-channel Elekta-Neuromag MEG systems).
In 2010, Dr. Owen was awarded a $10M Canada Excellence Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience and Imaging at The University of Western Ontario (UWO) and moved most of his research team to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in order to take up this position in January 2011.
Research
Over the last 20 years, Dr. Owen has published more than 180 peer-reviewed scientific papers and 35 chapters and (edited) books. His work has appeared in many of the world's most prestigious scientific and medical journals, including ScienceScience (journal)
Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
, Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
, The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine. His H-Index (Web of Science
Web of Science
ISI Web of Knowledge is an academic citation indexing and search service, which is combined with web linking and provided by Thomson Reuters. Web of Knowledge coverage encompasses the sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities. It provides bibliographic content and the tools to access, analyze,...
) is currently 59.
His early publications on patients with frontal or temporal-lobe excisions pioneered the use of touch screen based computerised cognitive tests in neuropsychology. Over the last 20 years, these tests have gone on to be used in more than 600 published studies of Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Depression, Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
, Autism
Autism
Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve cells and their...
, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive–compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry, by repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety, or by a combination of such obsessions and compulsions...
and ADHD, among others.
His post-doctoral research on working memory
Working memory
Working memory has been defined as the system which actively holds information in the mind to do verbal and nonverbal tasks such as reasoning and comprehension, and to make it available for further information processing...
with Michael Petrides, (PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, usually referred to as PNAS, is the official journal of the United States National Academy of Sciences...
, Cerebral Cortex
Cerebral Cortex (journal)
Cerebral Cortex is a scientific journal in the neuroscience area focusing on the cerebral cortex. It is published by Oxford University Press and it was founded by Patricia Goldman-Rakic....
, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
The Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience is a peer-reviewed academic journal for scientific research on cognitive neuroscience and the interaction between brain and behavior...
, Brain
Brain (journal)
Brain is a neurological journal published by Oxford University Press. It was edited by John Newsom-Davis from 1997 to 2004. Under his editorship it became one of the first scientific journals to go online. Since 2004 the journal is edited by Alastair Compston, Professor and Head of Department of...
and others) was instrumental in refuting the then prevailing view of lateral frontal-lobe
Frontal lobe
The frontal lobe is an area in the brain of humans and other mammals, located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere and positioned anterior to the parietal lobe and superior and anterior to the temporal lobes...
organisation advanced by Patricia Goldman-Rakic and others, and is still widely cited in that context. His 1996 paper on the organisation of working memory processes within the human frontal lobe continues to be one of the most highly cited articles ever to appear in the scientific journal Cerebral Cortex
Cerebral Cortex (journal)
Cerebral Cortex is a scientific journal in the neuroscience area focusing on the cerebral cortex. It is published by Oxford University Press and it was founded by Patricia Goldman-Rakic....
.
His 2006 paper in the journal Science
Science (journal)
Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
demonstrated that functional neuroimaging
Functional neuroimaging
Functional neuroimaging is the use of neuroimaging technology to measure an aspect of brain function, often with a view to understanding the relationship between activity in certain brain areas and specific mental functions...
could be used to detect awareness in a patient who was incapable of generating any recognised behavioural response and appeared to be in a vegetative state. This landmark discovery has implications for clinical care, diagnosis, medical ethics and medical/legal decision-making (relating to the prolongation, or otherwise, of life after severe brain injury). In a follow up paper in 2010 in The New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Owen and his team used a similar method to allow a man believed to be in a vegetative state for more than 5 years to answer 'yes' and 'no' questions with responses that were generated solely by changing his patterns of fMRI activity.
This research attracted international attention from the world’s media; it was reported in many hundreds of newspapers around the world (including twice on the front page of the New York Times and other quality journals) and has been widely discussed on television (e.g. BBC News, Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News is the news division of British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since the broadcaster's launch in 1982.-Channel 4 News:...
, ITN News, Sky News, CNN), radio (e.g. BBC World Service ‘Outlook’ documentary, NPR Radio (USA), BBC Radio 1, 2, 3 and 4), in print (e.g. full featured articles in The New Yorker The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
, The Observer Magazine etc.) and online (including Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
, Science
Science (journal)
Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
and The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
podcasts). To date, the discovery has featured prominently in 6 television documentaries including 60 Minutes
60 Minutes
60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
(USA), Horizon (BBC TV series) (UK), Inside Out (BBC TV series)
Inside Out (BBC TV series)
Inside Out is the brand name for a number of regional television programmes in England broadcast on BBC One. Each series, made by a BBC region, focuses on stories from the local area...
(UK), and The History Channel
The History Channel
History, formerly known as The History Channel, is an American-based international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts a variety of reality shows and documentary programs including those of fictional and non-fictional historical content, together with speculation about the future.-...
(Canada).
In 2009, Dr. Owen and his colleague, Dr. Adam Hampshire, launched Cambridge Brain Sciences, a free web-based platform for members of the public and the wider scientific community to assess their cognitive function using scientifically proven tests of memory, attention, reasoning and planning. To date, the tests on the site have been taken by more than 100,000 people world-wide.
In April 2010, Dr Owen and his team published the largest ever public test of computer-based brain training in the journal Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
. The study, conducted in conjunction with the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, showed that practice on brain training games does not transfer to other mental skills. More than 11,000 adults followed a six-week training regime, completing computer-based tasks on the BBC's website designed to improve reasoning, memory, planning, visuospatial skills and attention. Although improvements were observed in every one of the cognitive tasks that were trained, no evidence was found for 'transfer' effects to untrained tasks, even when those tasks were cognitively closely related. Details of the results were revealed on BBC1 in Can You Train Your Brain?, a Bang Goes the Theory
Bang Goes the Theory
Bang Goes the Theory is a British television science magazine series, co-produced by the BBC and the Open University, that began on 27 July 2009 on BBC One. Presented by Liz Bonnin, Jem Stansfield, Dallas Campbell and Dr...
special and published on the same day in Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
.
Other Academic Roles
Dr. Owen served as Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of NeuroscienceEuropean Journal of Neuroscience
The European Journal of Neuroscience is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of developmental, molecular, cellular, systems, behavioral, and cognitive neuroscience. It was established in 1989 and is currently edited by Jean-Marc Fritschy and Martin Sarter. The journal is published by the...
for 8 years (1997–2005) and is currently an Associate Editor for the Journal of Neuroscience
Journal of Neuroscience
The Journal of Neuroscience is a weekly scientific journal published by the Society for Neuroscience. The journal publishes peer-reviewed empirical research articles in the field of neuroscience...
and on the Advisory Board for the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
The Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences is an academic journal published by the New York Academy of Sciences. It is one of the oldest science journals, being founded in 1823....
. For four years, he has served on the Neurosciences and Mental Health Committee of the Wellcome Trust
Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust was established in 1936 as an independent charity funding research to improve human and animal health. With an endowment of around £13.9 billion, it is the United Kingdom's largest non-governmental source of funds for biomedical research...
, the UK's largest non-governmental source of funds for biomedical research. He is an Affiliated Lecturer at the University of Cambridge Department of Psychiatry and an Official Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge
Clare Hall, Cambridge
Clare Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is a college for advanced study, admitting only postgraduate students.Informality is a defining value at Clare Hall and this contributes to its unique character...
.
Awards
- The Pinsent Darwin Scholarship by the University of Cambridge (1996)
- Shortlisted for the Morgan-Stanley ‘Great Briton of 2006’ prize (2006)
- Voted ‘Scientist to Watch in 2008’ by the Financial Times, UK (2008)
- Voted the 50th most important scientist in the UK in The Times (London) ‘Top 100’ Science List (2010)
Personal life
Dr. Owen is married to Dr. Jessica A. Grahn, who is also a Cognitive Neuroscientist. They live in London, OntarioLondon, Ontario
London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...
. He has one brother, Professor Christopher J. Owen, who is Professor of Physics and Head of the Space Plasma Group at University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
(UCL) Department of Space and Climate Physics. He also has one sister, Frances Walsh, MSc RGN who is College Nurse, Warwickshire College
Warwickshire College
Warwickshire College is a large further and higher education college in England. It provides National Curriculum courses and vocational education in a broad range of subjects to students aged 16 and over...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Dr. Owen plays the guitar and sings in a band called "You Jump First".
External links
- http://www.neuroscience.cam.ac.uk/directory/profile.php?adrian Adrian Owen's Cambridge Neuroscience webpage.
- http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/people/adrian.owen/ Adrian Owen's page at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit.
- http://web.me.com/adrian.owen/ Adrian Owen's personal web page.
- http://cambridgebrainsciences.com Cambridge Brain Sciences, online web-based testing.
- http://www.clarehall.cam.ac.uk/index.php?id=662 Clare Hall, Cambridge.
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8497148.stm BBC News coverage of Adrian Owen's research.
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5320234.stm BBC News coverage of Adrian Owen's research.
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/labuk/results/braintestbritain/1_results_summary.html Brain Test Britain (Bang Goes The Theory).
- http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19592-take-the-ultimate-intelligence-test.html Adrian Owen's recent collaboration with The New Scientist.