Ursula Bellugi (February 21, 1931 – April 17, 2022) was an American
cognitive neuroscientist. She was a Distinguished Professor Emerita and director of the Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience at the
Salk Institute
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is a scientific research institute located in the La Jolla community of San Diego, California, U.S. The independent, non-profit institute was founded in 1960 by Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio va ...
in
La Jolla, California
La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781.
La Jolla is surrounded on ...
. She is known for research on the neurological bases of
American Sign Language
American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is express ...
and language representation in people with
Williams Syndrome
Williams syndrome (WS) is a genetic disorder that affects many parts of the body. Facial features frequently include a broad forehead, underdeveloped chin, short nose, and full cheeks. Mild to moderate intellectual disability is observed in peopl ...
.
Early life and education
Bellugi was born in
Jena
Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...
, Germany. Her father was
Maximilian Herzberger, a physicist and mathematician at the University of Jena. He was Jewish and lost his job during the Third Reich. Albert Einstein helped him to emigrate to Rochester, NY, where he became head of the Kodak company's optical research laboratories.She studied psychology and received a
B.A.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
from
Antioch College in 1952 and an
Ed.D. from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1967.
Career
In 1968 she moved to California, working at the
Salk Institute
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is a scientific research institute located in the La Jolla community of San Diego, California, U.S. The independent, non-profit institute was founded in 1960 by Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio va ...
. Beginning 1970 she was Director of its Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience.
beginning 1977 she was an
adjunct professor at the
University of California, San Diego
The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...
and after 1995 at
San Diego State University
San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...
. She was an associate with the Sloan Center for Theoretical Neurobiology at the Salk Institute.
Research
Broadly stated, she conducted research on the
biological bases of language. More specifically, she studied the neurological bases of
American Sign Language
American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is express ...
extensively, and her work led to the discovery that the left hemisphere of the human brain becomes specialized for language, whether spoken or signed, a striking demonstration of neuronal plasticity.
She also investigated the language abilities of individuals with
Williams Syndrome
Williams syndrome (WS) is a genetic disorder that affects many parts of the body. Facial features frequently include a broad forehead, underdeveloped chin, short nose, and full cheeks. Mild to moderate intellectual disability is observed in peopl ...
, a puzzling genetically based disorder that leaves language, facial recognition and social skills remarkably well-preserved in contrast to severe inadequacy in other cognitive aptitudes. The search for the underlying biological basis for this disorder is providing new opportunities for understanding how brain structure and function relate to cognitive capabilities.
Honors and distinctions
Bellugi was recognized with numerous awards, including the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association (APA) is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States, with over 133,000 members, including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants, and students. It has ...
(1992). In 2007 she was elected a fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsi ...
, and in 2008 she was elected a member of the
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Natio ...
. She was also on the advisory council of the
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
Personal life
In 1954 Bellugi married the Italian conductor
Piero Bellugi., whom she divorced while in Cambridge.
She conducted much of her research in collaboration with her second husband
Edward Klima, a linguist who also specialized in the study of American Sign Language at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). She had two sons, David and Rob.
She died on April 17, 2022, in
La Jolla, California
La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781.
La Jolla is surrounded on ...
.
Publications
Books
# ''The Signs of Language.'' Klima, E.S., & Bellugi, U. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979. —Paperback Edition, 1988; —Reprinted, 1995. (Award from Association of American Publishers for Most Outstanding Book in the Behavioral Sciences).
# ''Signed and Spoken Language: Biological Constraints on Linguistic Form.'' Bellugi, U., & Studdert-Kennedy, M. Dahlem Konferenzen. Weinheim/Deerfield Beach, FL: Verlag Chemie, 1980.
# ''What the Hands Reveal about the Brain.'' Poizner, H., Klima, E.S., & Bellugi, U. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press/Bradford Books, 1987.
# ''Language, modality and the brain. Trends in Neurosciences.'' 10, 380–388. (Reprinted in M.H. Johnson, (Ed.), Brain development and cognition. London: Blackwell).
# ''Clues to the neurobiology of language.'' Bellugi, U., & Hickok, G. Washington, DC: Library of Congress.
# ''The signs of aphasia.'' In F. Boller & J. Grafman (Eds.), Handbook of neuropsychology, (2nd ed pp 38–50). Hickok, G., & Bellugi, U. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Elsevier Science Publishers.
# ''Bridging cognition, brain and molecular genetics: Evidence from Williams syndrome.'' Trends in Neurosciences, 5, 197–208. Bellugi, U., Lichtenberger, L., Mills, D.,
Galaburda, A. & Korenberg, J.R. (1999).
# ''Journey from cognition to brain to gene: New perspectives from Williams Syndrome.'' Bellugi, U. & St. George, M. (Eds.) Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001.
# ''Affect, social behavior and brain in Williams syndrome.'' Current Directions in Psychological Science. Bellugi, U., Järvinen-Pasley, A., Doyle, T., Reilly, J., & Korenberg, J. (2007).
# ''Williams syndrome : A neurogenetic model of human behavior.'' In Encyclopedia of the Human Genome. Korenberg, J.R., Bellugi, U., Salandanan, L.S., Mills, D.L., & Reiss, A.L.
Selected publications
# Chailangkarn, Thanathom; Trujillo, Cleber A.; Freitas, Beatriz C.; Hrvoj-Mihic, Branka; Herai, Roberto H.; Yu, Diana X.; Brown, Timothy T.; Marchetto, Maria C.; Bardy, Cedric (2016-08-18). "A human neurodevelopmental model for Williams syndrome". ''Nature''.
#Bhatara, A., Quintin, E.M., Levy, B., Bellugi, U., Fombonne, E., & Levitin, D.J. (2010). Perception of emotion in musical performance in adolescents with Autism spectrum disorder. ''Autism Research'', 3, 214–225. (PMCID: PMC2963682
PubMed
References
External links
Edward Klima TributeSalk Press Releases:
Salk scientist Ursula Bellugi elected to National Academy of SciencesThree Salk scientists named 2007 AAAS FellowsThe Gregarious Gene?Beyond nature vs. nurture: Williams syndrome across culturesWilliams syndrome, the brain, and musicAre There "Social Behavior" Genes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellugi, Ursula
1931 births
2022 deaths
American women psychologists
Linguists from the United States
Developmental psycholinguists
American cognitive neuroscientists
Cognitive development researchers
Women linguists
American women neuroscientists
German emigrants to the United States
Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni
San Diego State University faculty
University of California, San Diego faculty
Antioch College alumni
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
Scientists from Jena
Salk Institute for Biological Studies people
21st-century American women scientists
Linguists of sign languages