Jon Driver
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Jonathon Stevens Driver (4 July 1962 – 28 November 2011) was a psychologist and neuroscientist.
Career
At the time of his death, Driver was Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London (UCL). From 2009 Driver held a Royal Society Anniversary Research Professorship, which allowed him to concentrate on research. He was formerly Director of the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, an interdisciplinary research centre that studies mental processes in the human brain. He was a principal investigator at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL.
Honours
In 2005 Driver was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences; in 2006 as a member of Academia Europaea, the Academy of Europe; and in 2008 as a Fellow of the British Academy. Previous awards include the Spearman Medal of the British Psychological Society, the Experimental Psychology Society (EPS) Prize, and the EPS Mid-Career Award. He received a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award; a Royal Society-Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship; and, at the time of his death, held a Royal Society Research Professorship.
Research
Driver's research focused on perception, selective attention and multisensory integration (interplay between our different senses) in the normal and damaged human brain. He used a combination of psychophysical, neuropsychological, neuroimaging and TMS methods, including most recently a combined brain stimulation and brain imaging approach (concurrent TMS-fMRI). His research had been funded by the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the Biology and Biotechnology Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council, the McDonnell Foundation, and The Stroke Association. Driver authored over 250 scientific publications.
Personal life
Driver was born in Halifax, England on 4 July 1962.[1] He was brought up in Hull. Driver had a wife and two sons.[2]
Driver died on 28 November 2011 after apparently jumping from the Hornsey Lane Bridge in North London.[1][3] An inquest into his death was opened, and adjourned, on 30 November 2011.[4]
Selected publications
- Ruff,C.C., Blankenburg,F., Bjoertomt,O., Bestmann,S., Freeman,E., Haynes,J-D.,Rees,G., Josephs,O., Deichmann,R., Driver,J. (2006). Concurrent TMS-fMRI and psychophysics reveal frontal influences on human retinotopic visual cortex. Current Biology 16(15), 1479-1488.
- Driver,J. (1996). Enhancement of selective listening by illusory mislocation of speech sounds due to lip-reading. Nature 381, 66-68
References
- ^ a b "Professor Jon Driver". The Times. 30 December 2011. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
- ^ "Tributes paid after death of top neuroscientist, 49". Hull Daily Mail. 13 December 2011. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
- ^ "Jon Driver: UCL obituary". University College London. 30 November 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
- ^ Kiran Randhawa (15 December 2011). "Funeral of top scientist who killed himself in bridge jump". This is London. Retrieved 16 December 2011.