Dr. Melvyn Goodale - Academics

Mel’s supervisor, Dr. Rod Cooper (a student of D.O. Hebb and supervisor to Dr. Ian Whishaw), introduced Mel to the study of visual behaviour in rats, with particular focus on the Sprague effect in cats. The Sprague effect is this: When researchers lesioned (cut) a specific area in a cat’s brain, it caused blindness in the cat. Then, when they lesioned a different area in the midbrain (the colliculus), the cat’s vision was restored. In his quest to understand the brain, Mel developed an electro-physiological model of this in a rat.

He followed his supervisor to the University of Western Ontario, where he received his PhD.
“It was an exciting time to be a graduate student.” Dr. Goodale says of late 1960s. He marvels at the war protests, “hippie culture”, and fantastic concerts. One concert, titled “Rock and Roll Revival” Dr. Goodale remembers: it featured John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and the Doors at Varsity Stadium in Toronto.