Marjorie Woollacott
American neuroscientist
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Through Motor control, Neural network and Down syndrome
Education
Woollacott graduated magna cum laude from the University of Southern California, where she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. She earned her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Southern California in 1973 and later received a Master of Arts in Asian Studies from the University of Oregon in 2005.
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Academic and research career
Woollacott spent over thirty years on the faculty at the University of Oregon, where she became a member of the Institute of Neuroscience. She also held joint academic appointments internationally, including positions at the University of Umeå in Sweden and the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Marseille, France.
Her personal narrative of spiritual awakening is featured in the archives of the Academy for the Advancement of Postmaterialist Sciences, which documents transcendent experiences reported by scientists.
She has investigated changes in attentional performance and neural networks resulting from mental training practices such as meditation and Tai Chi. She has studied the development of balance and attention in children, including those with motor impairments like cerebral palsy and Down syndrome. Woollacott has also examined age-related decline in balance, with a focus on improving mobility and independence among older adults and patients with neurological conditions such as Parkinson's disease and stroke. Her work includes designing assessment and rehabilitation strategies to enhance postural control and attentional capacity, particularly through the use of integrative therapies.
In addition to her work in neuroscience and rehabilitation, Woollacott has conducted studies on the development of musical performance skills and the effect of internal mental states on physical performance. She is the co-author, with Anne Shumway-Cook, of the widely used textbook Motor Control: Translating Research into Clinical Practice, which is now in its sixth edition as of 2021.
Consciousness and Spiritual Research
Woollacott has made contributions to the emerging field of consciousness studies. Her 2015 book Infinite Awareness: The Awakening of a Scientific Mind presents a synthesis of her scientific work and personal experiences with meditation and spiritual practice. The book explores non-local consciousness and the interface between Western neuroscience and Eastern philosophical traditions. It has received awards, including the Parapsychological Association Book Award, the Eric Hoffer Book Award, and the Nautilus Book Award.
Her academic writings in this area include collaborations with scholars such as Ben Williams, with whom she co-authored the paper "Conceptual Cognition and Awakening: Insights from Non-dual Śaivism and Neuroscience. This work explores the links between brain activity, language, self-awareness, and expanded states of consciousness, using insights from both neuroscience and the 10th-century Kashmiri philosopher Utpaladeva.
Woollacott's work also focuses on near-death experiences, extra-sensory perception, quantum entanglement, and the role of brain activity in shaping consciousness. She advocates a top-down view of consciousness, suggesting that awareness exists beyond the physical brain and is filtered by neural mechanisms. Her interests also align with panpsychism and postmaterialist models of the mind.
Awards
In 2005, she was named Senior Scholar in Motor Development by the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA). In 2009, she received the Distinguished Lecturer Award from the Department of Health Professions at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and was invited as a Senior Scientist to the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin. In 2017, she was awarded the Oen Fellow Award by Luther College in Iowa, where she delivered a public lecture and led class discussions on her book Infinite Awareness.