Michael Merzenich

Michael Matthias Merzenich^[2] (/ˈmɜːrzənɪk/ MURR-zə-nik;^[3] born 1942 in Lebanon, Oregon) is an American neuroscientist and professor emeritus at the University of California, San Francisco. He took the sensory cortex maps developed by his predecessors (Archie Tunturi, Clinton Woolsey, Vernon Mountcastle, Wade Marshall, and Philip Bard) and refined them using dense micro-electrode mapping techniques. Using this, he definitively showed there to be multiple somatotopic maps of the body in the postcentral sulcus,^[4][5] and multiple tonotopic maps of the acoustic inputs in the superior temporal plane.^[6]

He led the cochlear implant team at UCSF,^[1][7] which transferred its technology to Advanced Bionics,^[8] and their version is the Clarion cochlear implant.^[9] He collaborated with Bill Jenkins and Gregg Recanzone to demonstrate sensory maps are labile into adulthood in animals performing operant sensory tasks.^[10][11][12] He collaborated with Paula Tallal, Bill Jenkins, and Steve Miller to form the company Scientific Learning.^[1][13] This was based on Fast ForWord software they co-invented that produces improvements in children's language skills that has been related to the magnitude of their temporal processing impairments prior to training,^[14] though the program's effectiveness is disputed.^[15][16]

Merzenich was director and Chief Scientific Officer of Scientific Learning between November 1996 and January 2003. Merzenich took two sabbaticals from UCSF, in 1997 and 2004. In 1997 he led research teams at Scientific Learning Corporation, and in 2004 at Posit Science Corporation.^[17] Currently, Merzenich's second company, Posit Science Corporation, is working on a broad range of behavioral therapies. Their lead product is a brain-training application called BrainHQ (TM).^[18] Merzenich is Chief Scientific Officer, and on the Board of Directors, at Posit Science.^[17]