Edward Taub
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Edward Taub is a university professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is a behavioral neuroscientist whose original training was in behavior analysis at Columbia University. His first mentor was Fred Keller followed by Joseph V. Brady. The initial research he carried out employed primates given surgical abolition of somatic sensation of the forelimbs (i.e., deafferentation); it demonstrated that sensory feedback and spinal reflexes are not necessary for the learning and performance of behavior. This work gave rise to the development of CI therapy for the improvement of impaired movement associated with different types of damage to the central nervous system in humans such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy. A variant is also used for language in aphasic patients. The primate research and the CI therapy family of treatments are based on the use of behavior analysis methodology. Dr. Taub has received several major awards for this work and is currently Retiring Chair of Section J (Psychology) of AAAS.