Hebb, Donald O.

Life Dates

July 1904–August 1985

Introduction

Hebb is an internationally renowned neurophysiologist most who developed the concept of the Hebbian synapse and the Hebbian learning rule [1]. His contributions to the understanding of human learning and memory continue to have an impact on most areas of psychological thought and practice.

Educational Information

The eldest son of four children Donald Olding Hebb was a born in Chester, Nova Scotia in Canada [1]. Hebb initially pursued a career as a novelist and studied in the Faculty of Arts at Dalhousie University in Halifax where he majored in English. However, this ambition did not meet with success [1].

Hebb then motivated by the works of Sigmund Freud and went on to study as a graduate student in psychology at McGill University. In 1931 he wrote his M.A. thesis entitled Conditioned and Unconditioned Reflexes and Inhibitionwhich argued that skeletal reflexes were due to cellular learning. This thesis later formed the basis for his...