Neal E. MillerDied 23 Mar 2002 at age 92 (born 3 Aug 1909).Neal Elgar Miller was an American psychologist and neuroscientist who was the first to identify and promote biofeedback. He demonstrated experimentally that individuals may learn to control their heart rate and digestion in the same sense that walking is a learned activity. This work began in the 1950s when he investigated how such functions of the autonomic system could be consciously controlled by an animal or person. Proof came from his experiments with rats that he trained to control these functions using a system of rewards and punishment. At first, few scientists accepted these ideas, but gradually his theories on biofeedback gained support and are now widely accepted. In 1964, he was awarded the National Medal of Science.« |
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