Eric Kandel Quotes & Sayings (Page 4)

“The problem of psychoanalysis is not the body of theory that Freud left behind, but the fact that it never became a medical science. It never tried to test its ideas.”

“When I was a medical student in the 1950s, we practically never spoke about Alzheimer's disease. And why is that so? And that is because people didn't live long enough to have Alzheimer's disease.”

“You could double the number of synaptic connections in a very simple neurocircuit as a result of experience and learning. The reason for that was that long-term memory alters the expression of genes in nerve cells, which is the cause of the growth of new synaptic connections.”

“I don't think neurobiology is going to replace aesthetics or art history. It's a parallel discipline that adds a new dimension. I always compare it to Leonardo da Vinci looking at the structure of the human body, and you learn more about how the joints work and how the bones connect to one another, and then you can be more realistic as a painter.”

“If you read any of my books, they tend to have a strong historical perspective.”

“Long-term memory involves enduring changes that result from the growth of new synaptic connections.”

“My heart beats in three-quarter time.”

“Nerve cells communicate with one another at specialized points called synapses. And these synapses are plastic - they can be modified by learning.”

“I have a philosophy that has guided me throughout all of my scientific career, and that is, I think of myself as a fairly thoughtful person. I don't go into projects impetuously, and I try to select important problems.”

“Early in my career, I was disappointed that psychoanalysis was not becoming more empirical, was not becoming more scientific. It was primarily concerned with individual patients. It wasn't trying to collect data from large groups of people who have been analyzed.”