Bryan Edward Kolb OC FRSC (born 1947) is a Canadian neuroscientist, neuropsychologist, researcher, author and educator.
In 1976, Kolb's PhD thesis established the utility of employing rats for study of the prefrontal cortex in medical research.
[1] opening up a new venue for non-primate animal research in the prefrontal cortex and accelerating the development of new treatments that help victims of disease and cerebral injury.
[2] Kolb has contributed extensively to the literature of neuroplasticity during development and in response to experience, drugs, hormones and injury; including how these changes influence behavior.
[12] Kolb completed his PhD in psychology in 1973 at Pennsylvania State University, under the supervision of John Michael Warren.
While working with Warren, Kolb wondered whether lesion studies of the human prefrontal cortex could be extended to non-primates such as rats.
Kolb is likely best known for his textbook, Fundamentals of Neuropsychology, as of 2019 in its seventh edition and in multiple languages, which he wrote with his longtime colleague, Ian Whishaw.
Kolb was influential in transforming the originally 5170 m2 Life Sciences Building on the campus of the University of Lethbridge into the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience.
[19][20] Later studies with longtime colleague Robbin Gibb showed that both pre- and post brain injury treatments at all ages could enhance functional recovery.
In 2016, Kolb was inducted as an Officer of the Order of Canada "for his leadership and for his contributions to our scientific understanding of brain function and development.