# Donald Hebb ![[50 Resources/51 Attachments/51.03 Public/2026-05-06 Donald Hebb.jpg|400]] Donald Olding Hebb (1904–1985) was a Canadian psychologist whose *The Organization of Behavior* (1949) laid the foundation for modern neuroscience. His famous principle—"neurons that fire together, wire together"—describes how synaptic connections strengthen through repeated activation, explaining learning at the neural level. This "Hebbian learning" became central to both neuroscience and [[Connectionism]]. Hebb bridged behaviorism and cognitive science, arguing that mental states (cell assemblies, phase sequences) could be studied scientifically through their neural basis. His work influenced [[John Hopfield]]'s neural networks and modern deep learning. Hebb is considered a founder of neuropsychology. ## Key Contributions | Contribution | Significance | |--------------|--------------| | Hebbian learning | "Fire together, wire together" | | Cell assemblies | Neural basis of concepts | | Phase sequences | Thought as neural sequences | ## Quotes <!-- QueryToSerialize: LIST FROM #type/quote AND [[Donald Hebb]] WHERE public_note = true SORT file.name ASC --> ## Books <!-- QueryToSerialize: LIST FROM #type/book AND [[Donald Hebb]] WHERE public_note = true SORT file.name ASC --> ## Related - [[Connectionism]] - [[Neural Networks (NNs)]] - [[John Hopfield]] - [[Neuroscience]] ## References - Hebb, Donald. *The Organization of Behavior* (1949) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_O._Hebb