Miller, Neal Elgar

▪ 2003

      American psychologist (b. Aug. 3, 1909, Milwaukee, Wis.—d. March 23, 2002, Hamden, Conn.), conducted pioneering research on biofeedback—a technique by which unconscious or involuntary bodily processes may be manipulated by conscious mental control. After earning a Ph.D. in psychology from Yale University in 1935, Miller spent a year as a research fellow at the Institute of Psychoanalysis in Vienna. He then returned to Yale, where he served as professor of psychology from 1936 to 1966. Miller was a professor at Rockefeller University, New York City, from 1966 to 1981. His theory that the autonomic (involuntary) nervous system could be susceptible to training was initially greeted with skepticism but gradually gained acceptance. Eventually biofeedback was used in the treatment of a range of medical conditions, including migraines, high blood pressure, epilepsy, and heart arrhythmia. Miller was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1958 and was named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1961.

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