Endel Tulving

Endel Tulving (born May 26 1927) is a Canadian neuroscientist, born in Estonia, whose speciality is episodic memory. He is a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto and a Visiting Professor of Psychology at Washington University.

One of his main contributions is his theory of "encoding specificity." The theory emphasizes the fact that memories are retrieved from long-term memory by means of retrieval cues. For example, a very large number of memories stored in ones brain are not currently active, but the word "Disneyland" might instantly call to mind a trip to that amusement park. The theory of encoding specificity states that the most effective retrieval cues are those that were stored along with the memory of the experience itself. Thus, the words "amusement park" might not serve to retrieve the memory of a trip to Disneyland because, while there, the park was not specifically thought of as an "amusement park." Instead, it was thought of as Disneyland. As such, that is the cue that retrieves the appropriate memory from the vast ocean of memories that are stored in one's brain.

His work about episodic memory used the amnesic patient KC, who had intact semantic memory but no episodic memory.

In 1979, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 1992, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. In 2005 he won a Gairdner Foundation International Award, Canada's leading prize in biology and medicine. In 2006, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian honour. In 2007, he was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.

Professor Tulving has an h-index of 65.