LABORATORY AND BRANCH RESEARCH REVIEWS 117Ichiji Tasaki, M.D.
Courtesy of the National Library
of Medicine
Physiologist Ichiji Tasaki’s Section on Special Senses focused on
vision and hearing, specifically the mechanisms of nerve excitation,
including impulse generation, conduction and their consequences.”^7
His section studied: 1) mechanisms of production of the action po
tential in vertebrate nerve and muscle fiber; 2) the biochemical two
stable state concept of the nerve membrane; 3) the processes underlying
initiation of sensory nerve impulses in the retina, the cochlea, and the
skin; 4) the application of tracer techniques to study sodium and potassium
ion movements accompanying and following the action potential;
and 5) how to make more accurate and less damaging measurements
during passage of the nerve impulse.^8
The Section on Cortical Integration, headed by John C. Lilly, con
ducted studies on: 1) unanesthetized monkeys aimed at creating a general
map of spatial and temporal patterns of electrical activity on the surface
of the cortex; 2) developing a method to portray and analyze activity
from 256 electrodes; 3) the psychology and physiology of sensory isola
tion; 4) central nervous system mechanisms involved in hibernation; and
5) the electrical analysis of visual and auditory integrating mechanisms.^9
When Kety stepped down as the director of basic research and Robert
Livingston became the new director, Livingston created a new Section
on Limbic Integration and Behavior within the laboratory in 1957
and recruited a former Yale University colleague to head it: Paul D.
MacLean. This new section combined behavioral observation, condition
ing and learning studies, electrical examination of the central nervous