Richard Thompson, holder of the William M. Keck Chair in Biological Sciences and one of the leading behavioral neuroscientists in the world, will receive the 2007 Karl Spencer Lashley Award from the American Philosophical Society on Nov. 9 in Philadelphia.

The Lashley Award is one of the most prestigious prizes in behavioral neuroscience, said Michael Quick, executive vice dean for academic affairs at USC College.

“It is probably the top prize in behavioral neuroscience and one of the top two or three awards given in the entire field of understanding the brain,” Quick said. “The list of prior winners reads like a who’s who in neuroscience. People like Roger Sperry, Eric Kandel, Torsten Wiesel and David Hubel, all winners of the Nobel Prize, were recipients of the Lashley Prize.

“I can’t say that I was shocked to hear that professor Thompson won this award. Very very happy, but not surprised. Professor Thompson has spent his career identifying the neural basis of learning and memory, and for his entire career his laboratory has been at the forefront of answering this very difficult question. I can’t think of a more deserving recipient.”

Thompson, who will receive a hand-illuminated certificate and $20,000 honorarium, said in 1972, he accepted a tenured chair that had been held by Lashley at Harvard University’s psychology department.

“I was the first person to occupy (the) chair after Karl Lashley’s death,” Thompson explained. “So it was a very great honor.”

Thompson holds many other honors, including a seat on the 24-member National Science Board and membership in the American Philosophical Society, the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Thompson has spent nearly a half century studying the physical basis of memory, specifically the memory involved in classical conditioning.

Made famous by Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov with his salivating dog experiments, classical conditioning theory showed that animals can be taught to anticipate a reward. Lashley started the field of learning and memory in the United States around 1918, Thompson said.

In 2002, Thompson became the first to identify and map the neural circuits involved in classical conditioning.

In addition, Thompson and others have shown that the brain saves a memory by strengthening the synapses, or connections between neurons. Neurons also create new synapses during the learning process, which Thompson defines as the creation of memory.

Memory: The Key to Consciousness (Joseph Henry Press), a collaboration with longtime colleague Stephen Madigan of USC College, was published in 2005.