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 in the La Jolla community of San Diego, California. The independent, non-profit institute was founded in 1960 by Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vaccine; among th ...

La Jolla, California La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood in San Diego, California, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. The climate is mild, with an average daily temperature o ...

. 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 and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that i ...

and language representation in people with

Williams Syndrome Williams syndrome (WS), also Williams–Beuren syndrome (WBS), 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 int ...

Early life and education

Bellugi was born in

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany 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 in ...

, 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. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

from

Antioch College Antioch College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection and began operating in 1852 as a non-secta ...

in 1952 and an Ed.D. from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1967.

Career

In 1968 she moved to California, working at the

. Beginning 1970 she was Director of its Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience. beginning 1977 she was an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

and after 1995 at

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

. 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

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

, 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 main professional organization of psychologists in the United States, and the largest psychological association in the world. It has over 170,000 members, including scientists, educators, clin ...

(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 a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

, 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, NGO, 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 ...

. 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

at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). She had two sons, David and Rob. She died on April 17, 2022, in

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 Tribute
Salk Press Releases:
Salk scientist Ursula Bellugi elected to National Academy of Sciences

Three Salk scientists named 2007 AAAS Fellows

The Gregarious Gene?

Beyond nature vs. nurture: Williams syndrome across cultures

Williams syndrome, the brain, and music

Are 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 American women linguists American women neuroscientists Emigrants from Nazi Germany 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 20th-century American psychologists APA Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology recipients