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APA Historical Database: Selected Entries

On July 20:

1773 — Luigi Rolando was born. Rolando carried out early explorations of localization of brain functions and was among the first to electrically stimulate the brain. Many of his functional assignments are now known to be incorrect, but his influence guided research in productive directions.

1850 — Georg E. Müller was born. Müller conducted the first experimental study of attention (1873), investigated psychophysics through systematic studies of weight judgments, developed a theory of color vision, and discovered the importance of internal processes (e.g., preparatory set) that affect memory.

1885 — The first state mental hospital in Utah, Utah State Hospital, was opened for the admission of patients. The hospital was located in Provo, Utah Territory. The institution had been authorized by the territorial government on February 20, 1880. Walter Pike served as the first superintendent.

1950 — The first Annual Review of Psychology was published. Calvin P. Stone was the editor of the volume and the first article was "Growth, Development, and Decline," by Harold E. Jones and Nancy Bayley.

Copyright © 1995, American Psychological Association. Web version by permission. Source: Street, W. R. (1994). A Chronology of Noteworthy Events in American Psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. The American Psychological Association and Central Washington University have supported the development of the APA Historical Database.

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