George A. Miller Prize in Cognitive Neuroscience (GAM)

Congratulations to Dr. John Gabrieli, our 2027 Annual George A. Miller Prize in Cognitive Neuroscience Awardee. Dr. Gabrieli will accept this prestigious award and deliver his lecture in Boston, March 21, 2027 in the Grand Ballroom of the Boston Marriott Copley Place Hotel.

Cognitive Neuroscience and Human Thriving

John Gabrieli, Ph.D.

Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT

Sunday, March 21, 2026, 4:00 - 5:00 pm, Grand Ballroom

Photo Credit: Justin Knight

Human cognitive neuroscience has its roots in cognitive analyses of behavior following brain injuries, such as commissurotomy or resection to treat pharmacologically intractable epilepsy. Subsequently, the development of functional neuroimaging, especially functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), has allowed for a remarkable expansion of understanding the brain bases of human cognition, including many dimensions of individual differences among people. One goal of cognitive neuroscience can be helping to understand the brain bases of neurodevelopmental challenges (such as autism, dyslexia, and ADHD), mental health challenges (such as depression or anxiety), or environmental challenges (such as low-income situations). Ideally, cognitive neuroscience could not only describe these brain bases, but also suggest ways to improve outcomes for people in health and happiness. I will share some of the findings that suggest that cognitive neuroscience may play such a role in promoting human thriving.

About

John Gabrieli is a neuroscientist at MIT, and an Investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research. He is the Grover Hermann Professor of Health Sciences and Technology, a faculty member in the department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and director of the Athinoula A. Martinos Imaging Center, part of the McGovern Institute. Gabrieli is an expert on the brain mechanisms of human cognition, including memory, thought and emotion. His work includes neuroimaging studies on healthy adults and children as well as clinical patients with many different brain disorders, including schizophrenia, depression, Alzheimer's disease, autism and dyslexia.

As a graduate student with Suzanne Corkin at MIT he carried out research with the famous HM, who was a globally amnesic patient as a result of epileptic surgery. Gabrieli was able to show the importance of the parahippocampal cortex in the formation of memories.^[1] In collaboration with Christopher deCharms and colleagues he was the first to demonstrate that human subjects could learn to control their own brain activity using real-time feedback from functional MRI.^[2]

One of his major current interests is dyslexia, in particular the use of brain imaging to identify children who are at risk for reading difficulties and to understand how reading instruction affects the brain.^[3]

In 2008 Gabrieli was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which cited his "penetrating analyses of the nature of human memory, its neural substrates, its development, and its problems."^[4]

Copyright: Wikipedia

George A. Miller Prize in Cognitive Neuroscience

The George A. Miller Prize in Cognitive Neuroscience was established in 1995 by the Cognitive Neuroscience Society to honor the innovative scholarship of George A. Miller, whose many theoretical advances has so greatly influenced the discipline of cognitive neuroscience. The first ten years of the prize were funded by generous support from the James S. McDonnell Foundation.

The Prize shall be awarded to the nominee whose career is characterized by distinguished and sustained scholarship and research at the cutting-edge of their discipline and that has in the past, or has the potential in the future, to revolutionize cognitive neuroscience. Extraordinary innovation and high impact on international scientific thinking should be a hallmark of the recipient's work.

Each year a call for nominations for the George A. Miller Prize will be made to the membership of the society. The recipient of the prize will attend the annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society and deliver the George A. Miller lecture.

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Previous Winners of the George A. Miller Lectureship

2026 Joseph LeDoux, Ph.D., New York University
2025 Ken Paller, Ph.D., Northwestern University
2024 Lynn Nadel, Ph.D., University of Arizona
2023 Sabine Kastner, M.D., Ph.D., Princeton University
2022 BJ Casey, Ph.D., Yale University
2021 Elizabeth Phelps, Ph.D., Harvard University
2020 Nancy Kanwisher, Ph.D, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2019 Earl K. Miller, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2018 Elizabeth Spelke, Ph.D., Harvard University
2017 Dr. David Van Essen, Ph.D., Alumni Endowed Processor, Washington University in St Louis
2016 Brian Wandell, Ph.D., Isaac and Madeline Stein Family Professor
2015 Patricia Kuhl, Ph.D., University of Washington
2014 Jon Kaas, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University
2013 Fred Gage, Ph.D., The Salk Institute
2012 Eve Marder, Ph.D., Brandeis University
2011 Mortimer Mishkin, Ph.D., NIMH
2010 Steven Pinker, Ph.D., Harvard University
2009 Marcus Raichle, M.D., Washington University School of Medicine
2008 Anne Treisman, Ph.D., Princeton University
2007 Joaquin M. Fuster, Ph.D., University of California Los Angeles
2006 Steven A. Hillyard, Ph.D., University of California San Diego
2005 Leslie Ungerleider, Ph.D., National Institute of Mental Health
2004 Michael Posner, Ph.D., University of Oregon
2003 Michael Gazzaniga, Ph.D., Dartmouth College
2002 Daniel Kahneman, Ph.D., Princeton University
2001 William Newsome, Ph.D., Stanford University
2000 Patricia Churchland, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego
1999 Giacommo Rizzolatti, M.D., University of Parma, Italy
1998 Susan Carey, Ph.D., New York University
1997 Roger Shepard, Ph.D., Stanford University
1996 David Premack, Ph.D., CNRS, France
1995 David H. Hubel, M.D., Harvard Medical School