Neil R. Carlson pursued his undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois. He had planned to study nuclear physics, but when he discovered in an introductory psychology course that psychology was really a science, he decided that was what he wanted to do. Before changing his major, Carlson talked with several professors and visited their laboratories, and when he saw what physiological psychologists do, he knew that he had found his niche. He stayed on at Illinois and received his Ph.D. Then, after a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Iowa, Carlson came to the University of Massachusetts, where he’s been ever since.

When he arrived at UMass, Carlson established a laboratory where he investigated the role of the limbic system in species-typical and learned behaviors, continuing work he had done at the University of Illinois. He received several Biomedical Research Support Grants and a research grant from NICHD. As he became more involved in textbook writing, Carlson began to focus his attention more and more on this activity and on his teaching.

Carlson took the opportunity afforded by his first sabbatical leave to write the first edition of Physiology of Behavior. He very much enjoyed the experience, and this endeavor taught him much more about behavioral neuroscience. He was gratified with the positive response of his students and of the colleagues who adopted the book. The pleasure provided by this response and by the enjoyment of keeping up with the literature and writing about it has kept him going for 12 editions. (He has no plans to stop writing.)

Carlson’s interests outside of writing include spending time with his family, traveling, fly fishing, skiing, and flying his small airplane.