I have a post-retirement visiting professorship at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. Prior to that I spent over 30 years at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada.

 Email:
Phone:
Fax:

dkimura@sfu.ca
(778)782-3356
(778)782-3427

Department of Psychology
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive
Burnaby, B.C., V5A1S6
Canada

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Biological influences on human cognitive and motor skills.
I have studied this in various ways, including: a) in people with pathology to the brain, to see which abilities are affected and which are left intact after different parts of the brain are damaged b) in people without brain damage by comparing left and right hands, visual fields, or ears, as an avenue to learning about the opposite cerebral hemisphere c) in normal young men and women, relating levels of sex hormones to cognitive patterns.

My research is substantially covered in two books:

1. Neuromotor mechanisms in human communication.
    New York: Oxford University Press, 1993
brain.gif (2363 bytes) Outlines the evidence that the left cerebral hemisphere's communicative function is closely related to its capacity for complex motor control; that language and certain non-language motor skills are tightly associated in the brain; and that brain organization for such functions is somewhat different in left- and right-handers, as well as between men and women.
2. Sex and Cognition.
    Cambridge, Mass: A Bradford Book, MIT Press, 1999
Discusses known sex differences in cognitive and motor skills, a possible evolutionary framework, and the probable hormonal bases of some of the differences. Brain sex differences are also summarized.

Available in paperback edition (MIT Press, 2000)

Recent Research Articles (You may click on the underlined titles to read the articles.)

  An Alternative to the Broca/Wernicke Hypothesis of Speech Representation in the Brain.
(2008) Unpublished.		  
  Recollections of an Accidental Contrarian.
(2006) Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 60(1), 80-89.		  
  Human sex differences in cognition: fact, not predicament.
(2004) Sexualities, Evolution & Gender, 6, 45-53.		  
  Women's advantage on verbal memory is not restricted to concrete words.
(2002) Psychological Reports, 91, 1137-1142		  
   

OTHER INTERESTS

Promoting academic freedom, and the merit principle in academic decisions.
I was founding president (1992-93) and president again from 1998 - 2000 of the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship (SAFS) and served on the Board of Directors from its inception in 1992 until 2001.  SAFS two chief goals are:  1) Maintaining freedom in teaching, research, and scholarship;   2) Maintaining standards of excellence in academic decisions about students and faculty.

Dissenting Opinions

  "Under-representation" or Misrepresentation?
(2007) Why Aren't More Women In Science? S.J. Ceci & W. Williams (Eds.), APA Books, 39-46.		  
  Hysteria trumps academic freedom
(2005) Vancouver Sun, Tuesday, February 1, A13		  
  Preferential hiring of women
(2002) UBC Reports, January 10, p.2		  
  Biological constraints on parity between the sexes
(2001) Psynopsis, Winter, Vol. 23, p.3		  

[These and related writings are compiled in Dissenting Opinions (2002), 3 Wolves Press, Ioco, B.C.  To purchase a copy, email: dkimura@sfu.ca]