Ian M.L. Hunter | |
|---|---|
| Born | 14 October 1927 |
| Died | 30 August 2004 (aged 76) |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh; University of Oxford |
| Known for | Experimental psychology |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Psychology |
| Institutions | University of Edinburgh Keele University |
| Influences | George Humphrey |
Ian Melville Logan Hunter (1927-2004) was a British experimental psychologist.
Hunter was born in Dunfermline in 1927. He attended the University of Edinburgh from which he graduated in 1949 with a first class honours degree in psychology. He proceeded to the University of Oxford where he was supervised by George Humphrey. He obtained his DPhil in 1953 and then returned to Edinburgh as a lecturer. He remained there until 1962 when he was appointed the Foundation Professor of Psychology at Keele University. He retired in 1982 and moved back to Edinburgh where he died in 2004.[1]
Hunter was an experimental psychologist. His early work at Oxford was on transposition behaviour which led to a number of publications (Hunter, 1952).[2] At Oxford, he also became interested, through his supervisor George Humphrey, in Victor of Aveyron - the feral child who was found in Aveyron southern France in 1800 (Hunter, 1993; Itard, J.M.G., 1932)).
While at Edinburgh he became acquainted with Alexander Aitken, a mathematician who had an amazing memory. Hunter undertook some research on Aitken's memory (Hunter, 1962, 1977).[3] Later, he wrote two popular books on memory which sold several hundred thousand copies (Hunter, 1957, 1964).