1974

Dr Candace Pert discovers the opiate receptor, the cellular bonding site for endorphins in the brain. This discovery established why drugs such as morphine affect our state of mind and proved that human emotions, at least in part, have a bio-chemical basis. This discovery laid the foundations for what has since become known as the "mind-body" movement and gave scientific credance to the links between our physiology and psychology.

1980s

During the 1980s a number of researchers began to associate the neurological findings of researchers such as Sperry and MacLean with the psychological models of temperament based on the work of Carl Jung.

The resultant plethora of psychometric tools and models that emerged from that research are not without their critics, but what the research did prove was that it is a person's Neurological Dominance that form the foundations of their personality.

1990

President George Bush declares the 1990s the "Decade of the Brain" to enhance public awareness of the benefits to be derived from brain research.

The resultant increase in research funding led to enormous advances in our understanding of the brain and to ground-breaking discoveries in the area of brain disorders.

2001

Elkhonon Goldberg published The Executive Brain, a book that summarises his research into the role of the prefrontal cortex.

He dismissed the then widely held view that the brain consisted of a multitude of separate nodes, each dedicated to specific and descrete cognitive functions. Instead he argued that the regions of the brain work collaboratively to form a cognitive continuum with the prefrontal cortex providing the organisation in much the same way as a conductor controls an orchestra.

2002

Whereas it has been long known that that our temperament and preferences are created and reinforced by the repeated stimulation of particular neural pathways, Joseph LeDoux’s research into synchrony concluded that the brain comprises multiple systems, all of which are capable of learning and all of which contribute in the creation of a single experience. Since the stimulation of these systems will vary with circumstances, it follows that the perception of a single experience will be different in different situations. The conclusion is that preferences can be circumstantial. LeDoux's findings were published in 2002 in his book Synaptic Self.