Doreen Kimura

Doreen Kimura FRSC (February 15, 1933 – February 27, 2013) was a Canadian psychologist who was professor at the University of Western Ontario and professor emeritus at Simon Fraser University.[1] Kimura was recognized for her contributions to the field of neuropsychology and later, her advocacy for academic freedom.[2] She was the founding president of the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship.[3]

Doreen Kimura

FRSC
Born
Doreen Goebel

(1933-02-15)February 15, 1933
Winnipeg, Manitoba
DiedFebruary 27, 2013(2013-02-27) (aged 80)
Vancouver, British Columbia
NationalityCanadian
CitizenshipCanadian
Alma materMcGill University
Children1
AwardsDonald O. Hebb Award for Distinguished Contributions to Canadian Psychology as a Science
Scientific career
FieldsNeuropsychology
Institutions
Academic advisorsBrenda Milner

Biography

Kimura was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and grew up in the village of Neudorf, Saskatchewan.[3] Kimura was finishing her final year of high school via correspondence while teaching in a one-room schoolhouse in Northern Manitoba when she applied to and won an entrance scholarship to McGill University in Montreal.[4]

Kimura went on to earn bachelor's, master's, and doctoral (in 1961) degrees from McGill.[3] Woodburn Heron supervised her master's thesis.[5] She conducted her doctoral research at the Montreal Neurological Institute under the supervision of neuroscientist Brenda Milner (co-supervised by Donald O. Hebb).[2][3][5]

Kimura joined the faculty at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, in 1967, and remained there for the rest of her career.[3] In 1974, she established the Neuropsychology Unit at London’s University Hospital (now London Health Sciences Centre).[2]

She had one daughter, named Charlotte Thistle Archer.[3] Kimura died on February 27, 2013, at age 80, in Vancouver.[3]

Work

Kimura's early work, starting in the 1960s, assessed differences in the language and music processing capabilities of the two hemispheres of the brain.[6][7] She demonstrated that right-handed subjects have a right-ear superiority for the reception of words and numbers, and left-ear superiority for the perception of melodies; she concluded that these superiorities must reflect the processing specializations of the left and right hemispheres of the brain.[2][6][7] Kimura was among the first researchers to use dichotic listening tests in her work, a non-invasive method for studying the lateral asymmetry of auditory processing in the brain.[2][5]

Kimura studied healthy individuals, as well as patients with apraxia and aphasia, to draw conclusions about the neurological underpinnings of communication.[2][8][9] Her 1993 monograph, Neuromotor Mechanisms in Human Communication,[10] summarized her research in this area over the prior two decades.[2]

Kimura's later interests included the relationship between sex and cognition and promoting academic freedom.[2][3] In a number of publications, including her 200 book Sex and Cognition,[11] she suggested that cognitive and behavioural differences between males and females can be attributed to the influence of sex hormones on brain development.[12][13] This work has been met with criticism by those who assert that gender differences are better explained by the influences of society and culture.[14] In a special issue of the journal Canadian Psychology, Kimura argued against affirmative action for women in academia, calling it "demeaning" to women.[15]

Awards and honours

Books
  • Neuromotor mechanisms in human communication (1993), Oxford: OUP ISBN 0-19-505492-X
  • Sex and Cognition (2000), Cambridge, MA: MIT Press ISBN 0-262-61164-3
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References
  1. "Doreen Kimura – Obituaries – London, ON – Your Life Moments". Yourlifemoments.ca. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  2. "Dr. Doreen Kimura". Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour & Cognitive Science. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  3. Hampson, Elizabeth; Seligman, Clive (April 2013). "Obituary - Doreen Kimura 1933-2013". Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  4. Kimura, Doreen (2006). "Recollections of an accidental contrarian". Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology. 60 (1): 80–89. doi:10.1037/cjep2006009. ISSN 1878-7290. PMID 16615720.
  5. Kimura, Doreen (2011). "From ear to brain". Brain and Cognition. 76 (2): 214–217. doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2010.11.009. PMID 21236541.
  6. Kimura, Doreen (1961). "Cerebral dominance and the perception of verbal stimuli". Canadian Journal of Psychology. 15 (3): 166–171. doi:10.1037/h0083219. ISSN 0008-4255.
  7. Kimura, Doreen (1964). "Left-right differences in the perception of melodies". Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 16 (4): 355–358. doi:10.1080/17470216408416391. ISSN 0033-555X.
  8. Kimura, D. (1982-06-25). "Left-Hemisphere Control of Oral and Brachial Movements and Their Relation to Communication". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 298 (1089): 135–149. Bibcode:1982RSPTB.298..135K. doi:10.1098/rstb.1982.0077. ISSN 0962-8436. PMID 6125966.
  9. Kimura, Doreen (1976), "The Neural Basis of Language Qua Gesture**The research reported here was supported by grants to the author from the National Research Council and the Medical Research Council, Ottawa.", Studies in Neurolinguistics, Elsevier, pp. 145–156, doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-746302-5.50011-6, ISBN 978-0-12-746302-5, retrieved 2019-12-05
  10. Kimura, Doreen. (1993). Neuromotor mechanisms in human communication. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505492-X. OCLC 26396505.
  11. Kimura, Doreen. (1999). Sex and cognition. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. ISBN 0-585-08769-5. OCLC 42856228.
  12. Kimura, Doreen (1996-04-01). "Sex, sexual orientation and sex hormones influence human cognitive function". Current Opinion in Neurobiology. 6 (2): 259–263. doi:10.1016/S0959-4388(96)80081-X. ISSN 0959-4388. PMID 8725969.
  13. Kimura, Doreen (2004). "Human sex differences in cognition, fact, not predicament". Sexualities, Evolution & Gender. 6 (1): 45–53. doi:10.1080/14616660410001733597. ISSN 1479-2508.
  14. Luckow, Diane (2000-04-06). "Kimura awarded Sterling prize". Simon Fraser University News. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  15. "kimura1". Safs.ca. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  16. "CPA Award Descriptions and Recipients". Canadian Psychological Association. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  17. "Doreen Kimura Wins Kistler Prize". www.safs.ca. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
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