Beatrice Gelber is an American

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

best known for her work on

associative learning Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, attitudes, and preferences. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, non-human animals, and some machines; there is also evidence for some kin ...

protozoa Protozoa (: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a polyphyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes, either free-living or parasitic, that feed on organic matter such as other microorganisms or organic debris. Historically ...

, suggesting that

synaptic plasticity In neuroscience, synaptic plasticity is the ability of synapses to Chemical synapse#Synaptic strength, strengthen or weaken over time, in response to increases or decreases in their activity. Since memory, memories are postulated to be represent ...

is not an essential neurochemical mechanism for learning and memory.

Education and career

She received a doctorate in psychology at

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

under

Roland Clark Davis Roland Clark Davis (December 20, 1902– February 23, 1961) was an American psychologist recognized for his innovation in instrumentation and measurement of electrophysiological phenomena. Davis contributed to the measurement of electrodermal act ...

.Samuel J. Gershman, Petra EM Balbi, C. Randy Gallistel, Jeremy Gunawardena
"Reconsidering the evidence for learning in single cells"
accessed from the

National Library of Medicine The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest medical library. Located in Bethesda, Maryland, the NLM is an institute within the National Institutes of Health. I ...

website, published January 4, 2021. Retrieved November 20, 2024. She held a professorship at

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

until 1960, when she left to found the Basic Research Institute of Health.

Research

Gelber is known for her research on the intracellular mechanisms of learning and behavior. She demonstrated that ''

Paramecium aurelia ''Paramecium aurelia'' are unicellular organisms belonging to the genus ''Paramecium'' of the phylum Ciliophora. They are covered in cilia which help in movement and feeding.''Paramecium'' can reproduce sexually, asexually, or by the process ...

'' could form associations after training, reminiscent of associative learning in multicellular organisms. She suggested that these behavior modifications could be produced through modification of biological macromolecules such as

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

or RNA-protein complexes, influencing the

dynamic equilibrium In chemistry, a dynamic equilibrium exists once a reversible reaction occurs. Substances initially transition between the reactants and products at different rates until the forward and backward reaction rates eventually equalize, meaning the ...

of said key molecules. Her findings were contested by contemporaries such as Donald D. Jensen, who criticized the use of protozoans in comparative learning studies.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gelber, Beatrice Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American women scientists 20th-century American scientists 21st-century American women 21st-century American psychologists American women psychologists University of Chicago faculty Indiana University Bloomington alumni American women academics