Margaret Livingstone

Livingstone was born in Virginia, started college at Duke University and then transferred to Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she received her undergraduate degree in 1972.[3][1] In 1981 she earned her Ph.D. from Harvard University.[4] Following her Ph.D. she worked as a visiting fellow at Princeton University[1] and then was a postdoctoral fellow under David H. Hubel at Harvard University.[5] In 1983 she became an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, and in 1988 she was promoted to professor, and in 2014 she was named the Takeda Professor of Neurobiology.[1]

Livingstone's early research was on neurons that respond to serotonin, which she conducted by using lobsters as a model organism.[6][7] She went on to examine the visual responses in cats,[8] monkeys,[9] and how primates sense color.[10] Her research provides insight into how mammals perceive form and movement,[11][12] the physiological details leading to dsylexia,[13] and the region of the brain used to identify faces.[14][15]

Livingstone's research using Rhesus monkeys is controversial. Her 2022 paper examining how infant monkeys become attached to soft, inanimate objects[16] raised concerns from others, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.[17] On Sept, 19, 2022, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) published an article by Livingstone entitled “Triggers for Mother Love”.[18] Catherine Hobaiter, a primatologist and Doctor at the University of St. Andrews, co-authored a public letter with Gal Badihi, MSc in Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of St Andrews, lambasting both Livingstone's actions and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) for publishing the article.[19] It was signed by over 250 scientists.[20] PNAS refused to publish the letter. Craig Stanford, an anthropologist and Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Southern California, stated, “Studies such as those by Livingstone very rarely produce results that could not have been achieved without the abuse of laboratory monkeys. They are medically unnecessary. And they are a shameful and inexcusable act of animal abuse that nearly all researchers would abhor.”[21]

Science published an article on October 19, 2022, outlining the controversy and response by Harvard Medical School, as well as Hobaiter's response, in which she calls for the retraction of Livingstone's publications as well as the termination of her funding and her research at Harvard Medical School.[22] Margaret Livingstone released a personal statement regarding the specifics of the procedures used in her research on October 24, 2022.[23] Harvard Medical School responded to these concerns on October 14, 2022, by stating that all research conducted at Harvard Medical School follows the guidelines set out by the Animal Welfare Act, the Public Health Service on Humane Care and Use of Animals, and AAALAC International.[24]

Harvard School is not unanimous in its support of Livingstone. Dr. Wrangham, Moore Research Professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University, stated in reference to Livingstone's studies "Taking infant monkeys from their mothers to use in invasive brain experiments could only be justified by expectations of extraordinarily important benefits for the monkeys themselves, or for humans. Because that high ethical bar has not been met, I see no legitimate need for any such research.” Harvard Law School's Animal Law and Policy Clinic is publicly critical of her. In a Feb 8 2023 press release,[25] they detailed the conditions of her previous study : "NIH-funded Harvard Medical School lab run by neurobiologist Dr. Margaret S. Livingstone has used infant macaque monkeys to study visual recognition by depriving them of the ability to see faces, either by sewing their eyes shut or by requiring staff to wear welders’ masks around them. In some cases, the lab implants electrode arrays into the monkeys’ brains.". The Clinic joined Wild Minds Lab of the University of St Andrews in writing a letter to the NIH, which has granted her over 32 million since the 1980's.[26] The letter[27] urges the NIH “to internally review not only these particular studies at the Harvard Medical School, but also all other ongoing non-human primate experiments of a similar nature, and to permanently end funding for current or future projects that lack ecological validity and involve cruel and inhumane treatment of animals used in experimentation.” This letter was signed by 380 scientists. The Harvard Law Clinic also wrote to Harvard Medical School's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee citing, among other things, Harvard Medical School's violations of the Animal Welfare Act.[28]

• Livingstone, M. S.; Hubel, D. H. (1984-01-01). "Anatomy and physiology of a color system in the primate visual cortex". Journal of Neuroscience. 4 (1): 309–356. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.04-01-00309.1984. ISSN 0270-6474. PMC 6564760. PMID 6198495. S2CID 15340643.
• Livingstone, M. S.; Hubel, D. H. (1987-11-01). "Psychophysical evidence for separate channels for the perception of form, color, movement, and depth". Journal of Neuroscience. 7 (11): 3416–3468. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.07-11-03416.1987. ISSN 0270-6474. PMC 6569044. PMID 3316524. S2CID 15485966.
• Livingstone, Margaret; Hubel, David (1988-05-06). "Segregation of Form, Color, Movement, and Depth: Anatomy, Physiology, and Perception". Science. 240 (4853): 740–749. Bibcode:1988Sci...240..740L. doi:10.1126/science.3283936. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 3283936.
• Livingstone, M S; Rosen, G D; Drislane, F W; Galaburda, A M (1991-09-15). "Physiological and anatomical evidence for a magnocellular defect in developmental dyslexia". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 88 (18): 7943–7947. Bibcode:1991PNAS...88.7943L. doi:10.1073/pnas.88.18.7943. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 52421. PMID 1896444.
• Livingstone, Margaret (25 March 2014). Vision and art : the biology of seeing. ISBN 978-1-4197-0692-9. OCLC 828416672.[29]
• Tsao, Doris Y.; Freiwald, Winrich A.; Tootell, Roger B. H.; Livingstone, Margaret S. (2006-02-03). "A Cortical Region Consisting Entirely of Face-Selective Cells". Science. 311 (5761): 670–674. Bibcode:2006Sci...311..670T. doi:10.1126/science.1119983. ISSN 0036-8075. PMC 2678572. PMID 16456083.

In 2011, the Society for Neuroscience awarded Livingstone the Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award.[30] In 2015 she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,[31] and in 2020 she was elected to the United States' National Academy of Sciences.[32]

• Margaret Stratford Livingstone SfN Biography (PDF)
• Margaret Livingstone publications indexed by Google Scholar