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April 12, 2002Volume 30, Number 25



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Noted psychologist Neal E. Miller, pioneer
in research on brain and behavior, dies

Neal E. Miller, an experimental psychologist whose groundbreaking work at Yale and at Rockefeller University on the brain and behavior led to one of the earliest uses of biofeedback, died March 23 at the age of 92.

Professor Miller began a long affiliation with Yale after receiving his Ph.D. from the University in 1935. He was engaged early in his career in trying to map the most basic human drives, such as fear, hunger and curiosity. He was met with great resistance in the 1950s and the 1960s when he first began advancing his theories that people can be taught to influence such bodily mechanisms as blood pressure.

In Professor Miller's obituary in The New York Times, a 1997 statement by Dr. James S. Gordon, founder of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, is quoted to express the cynicism with which the Yale psychologist's work was originally viewed. Said Gordon, "In 1961, when Neal Miller first suggested that the autonomic nervous system could be as susceptible to training as the voluntary nervous system, that people might learn to control their heart rate and bowel contractions just as they learned to walk or play tennis, his audiences were aghast. He was a respected researcher, director of a laboratory at Yale, but this was a kind of scientific heresy. Everyone 'knew' that the autonomic nervous system was precisely that: automatic, beyond our control."

Professor Miller's contributions, however, later influenced generations of researchers in behavioral medicine, neuroscience and other fields. Biofeedback is now used widely to help with a variety of medical conditions, including high blood pressure, epilepsy and migraines. Professor Miller was also among the first to conduct research in which he stimulated the brains of rats with electricity and chemicals to produce such sensations as hunger or anxiety.

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Aug. 3, 1909, Neal Miller earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Washington and a M.A. from Stanford University. He became an assistant in research in psychology at Yale after earning his Ph.D. from the University and later was a researcher in the University's Institute of Human Relations. He served during World War II as an officer in charge of research in the Army Air Corps' Psychological Research Unit #1 in Nashville, Tennessee, then was director of the Psychological Research Project at the headquarters of the Flying Training Command in Randolph Field, Texas.

In 1950, Mr. Miller was appointed a professor of psychology at Yale and in 1952 he was named the James Rowland Angell Professor of Psychology. He taught at Yale until 1966, when he became a professor at Rockefeller University. During the early 1970s, he taught at Cornell University Medical College. He returned to Yale in 1985 as a research affiliate.

Professor Miller co-authored four books, "Frustration and Aggression," "Social Learning and Imitation," "Personality and Psychotherapy" and "Graphic Communication and the Crisis in Education." He was editor of "Psychological Research on Pilot Training" and a coeditor of "Biofeedback -- Basic Problems and Clinical Applications." Professor Miller also published "Neal E. Miller: Selected Papers," a compilation of some of his scholarly work. He authored some 300 articles.

Professor Miller served as president of the American Psychological Association (APA) 1960-1961 and was also a member of its board of directors. He also was president of the Society for Neurosciences, the Biofeedback Society of America and the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research.

The psychologist received many honors, including the APA's Distinguished Contributions to Knowledge Award, the National Medal of Science, the Yale Graduate School's Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal and the Presidential Award from the Society for Neuroscience, among others. The Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research established the Neal E. Miller New Investigator Award in his honor and the APA established a distinguished lectureship in his name.

Mr. Miller is survived by his second wife, Jean Shepler of Hamden, Connecticut; a son, Dr. York Miller of Denver, Colorado; and a daughter, Sara Miller Mauch of Ypsilanti, Michigan. His first wife, Marion E. Edwards, died in 1997.


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Visiting architect describes his creative process

In Focus: Yale Recycling

Exhibition features art by 'consummate storyteller'

Peabody receives grant for Machu Picchu exhibit

Difficult quest for black education explored in forum

Noted psychologist Neal E. Miller, pioneerin research on brain and behavior, dies

Study estimates the likelihood of stroke in elderly patients who have had heart attacks

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Lecture to explore how biomaterials 'will change our lives'

Conference on 'God and the Ethics of Belief' pays tribute . . .

Event to explore latest research on mental illness

Gustav Ranis reappointed as Henry R. Luce Director of YCIAS

'Hot Flashes' explores world of womanhood after 50

Museum spearheading annual cleanup of New Haven Harbor

At the powwow

Transatlantic polo

Campus Notes



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