Christopher Donald Frith, (born 16 March 1942) is a psychologist and

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

at the

Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging The 'Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging'' at University College London is a world-leading interdisciplinary centre for neuroimaging research based in London, United Kingdom. Researchers at the Centre use expertise to investigate how the hum ...

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. Visiting Professor at the Interacting Minds Centre at Aarhus University, Research Fellow at the Institute of Philosophy and Quondam

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of All Souls College, Oxford.

Education

Chris Frith was born in 1942 in

Cross in Hand Cross-in-Hand is a small village outside Heathfield town to its west, in the Wealden District situated in East Sussex, England. It is occasionally referred to as Isenhurst. The village Cross-in-Hand is situated at the junction the A267 ru ...

, Sussex and educated at

The Leys School The Leys School is a co-educational independent school in Cambridge, England. It is a day and boarding school for about 574 pupils between the ages of eleven and eighteen, and a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. Histo ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

, before reading

Natural Sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

as an undergraduate student of Christ's College, Cambridge. After graduation, he completed a Diploma in

Abnormal Psychology Abnormal psychology is the branch of psychology that studies unusual patterns of behavior, emotion, and thought, which could possibly be understood as a mental disorder. Although many behaviors could be considered as abnormal, this branch of psyc ...

and PhD at the

Institute of Psychiatry The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) is a research institution dedicated to discovering what causes mental illness and diseases of the brain. In addition, its aim is to help identify new treatments for them and ways ...

in 1969 under the supervision of Hans Eysenck.

Research

His primary research interest is in the applications of functional

brain imaging Neuroimaging is the use of quantitative (computational) techniques to study the structure and function of the central nervous system, developed as an objective way of scientifically studying the healthy human brain in a non-invasive manner. Incre ...

to the study of

social cognition Social cognition is a sub-topic of various branches of psychology that focuses on how people process, store, and apply information about other people and social situations. It focuses on the role that cognitive processes play in social interacti ...

, although he is also well known for his earlier seminal work characterising the cognitive basis of

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wit ...

. He has published over 500 papers in peer reviewed journals and has an

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with obvious success indicators such as ...

of 225 as of GoogleScholar. He is the author of a number of important neuroscience books, including the classic ''The Cognitive Neuropsychology of Schizophrenia'' (1992/2015) and the popular science book ''Making up the Mind'' (2007), which was on the long list for the Royal Society Prizes for Science Books in 2008. His former doctoral students include David A. Nathaniel-James, Muwafak H Al-Eithan,

Geraint Rees Geraint Ellis Rees is Vice- Provost of research, innovation & global engagement at University College London (UCL). Previously he served as Dean of the UCL Faculty of Life Sciences, UCL Pro-Provost (Academic Planning), Pro-Vice-Provost (AI) and ...

and

Sarah-Jayne Blakemore Sarah-Jayne Blakemore (born 11 August 1974) is Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge and co-director of the Wellcome Trust PhD Programme in Neuroscience at University College London Sarah Jayne Blak ...

Awards and honours

Frith was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

(FRS) in 2000, a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 2008 and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2000. In September 2008, a

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

was organised in his honour by The Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging and the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience. In 2009 he was awarded the Fyssen Foundation Prize for his work on neuropsychology and he and

Uta Frith Dame Uta Frith (''née'' Aurnhammer; born 25 May 1941) is a German-British developmental psychologist at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London. She has pioneered much of the current research into autism and dysle ...

were awarded the European Latsis Prize for their work linking the human mind and the human brain. In 2014, he and Uta Frith were awarded the

Jean Nicod Prize The Jean Nicod Prize is awarded annually in Paris to a leading philosopher of mind or philosophically oriented cognitive scientist. The lectures are organized by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique as part of its effort to promote int ...

for their work on social cognition.

Personal life

Chris Frith is the brother of guitarist Fred Frith and

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...

Simon Frith Simon Webster Frith (born 1946) is a British sociomusicologist and former rock critic who specializes in popular music culture. He is Tovey Chair of Music at University of Edinburgh. Career As a student, he read PPE at Oxford and earned ...

. In 1966 he married

, a

developmental psychologist Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult developmen ...

. In 2008 they were the subject of a double portrait by Emma Wesley. They have two children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Frith, Chris 1942 births Living people British cognitive neuroscientists Neuropsychologists Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the Royal Society Academics of University College London Wellcome Trust Fellows of the British Academy People associated with The Institute for Cultural Research