Welcome to the CatLab, the web site for Tom Palmeri’s laboratory at Vanderbilt University.
Our laboratory studies how people visually categorize, identify, and recognize objects. We examine how objects are processed and represented by the visual system, how visual knowledge about objects is represented and learned, and how perceptual decisions about objects are made. We are particularly interested in the temporal dynamics of visual object recognition. That includes the short-term dynamics of an individual decision about an object’s category or identity and the long-term dynamics of how those decisions change with learning and perceptual expertise. We approaches these questions using a combination of behavioral experiments, cognitive neuroscience techniques, and computational and neural modeling.
Our research is and has been generously funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the James S. McDonnell Foundation, and Discovery grants from Vanderbilt University.
Picture taken October 2007 after a weekly joint meetings of Palmeri’s Catlab and Gauthier’s Object Perception Laboratory. From left to right: Noa Ben Amotz, Olivia Cheung, Rankin Williams, Anders Ericsson (visiting the lab for the morning), Tom Palmeri, Isabel Gauthier, Jonathan Folstein, Yetta Wong, Mike Mack, Jenn Richler.
Recent Lab News
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A couple of recent papers from the CatLab
January 17, 2012Purcell, B.A., Schall, J.D., Logan, G.D., & Palmeri, T.J. (in press). Gated stochastic accumulator model of visual search. Journal of Neuroscience. [PDF]
Folstein, J., Gauthier, I., & Palmeri, T.J. (in press). Not all morph spaces stretch alike: How category learning affects object perception. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. [PDF]
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NSF Renews TDLC center grant
November 4, 2011The Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center (TDLC) recently received renewal of funding from the National Science Foundation with a five year $18 million grant. The TDLC, one of six Science of Learning Centers funded by NSF, provides core support for the Perceptual Expertise Network (PEN). PEN is co-directed by Palmeri and Gauthier, who also sit on the Executive Committee for the TDLC.
A story on the funding renewal appears here: http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2011/11/pen-grant-renewal/
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Scientific Computing minor highlighted in Vanderbilt Engineering magazine
October 5, 2011The new Scientific Computing program (Thomas Palmeri, co-Director) is highlighted in Vanderbilt Engineering magazine: Computing: It's Not Just for Computer Scientists and Engineers Anymore.
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Mike Mack wins Jum Nunnally Dissertation Award!
September 20, 2011Michael Mack is the 2011 winner of the Jum Nunnally Dissertation Award.
The Jum Nunnally Dissertation Award recognizes a recent outstanding doctoral dissertation in the Department of Psychology. The recipient receives a certificate and a $500 award. Mike's thesis was nothing short of excellent, and well deserving of this award.
Jum Nunnally came to Vanderbilt in 1960. In 1961, he became the second chair of the department. He served as chair from 1961-1964 and again from 1967-1970. Under Jum’s leadership, the department grew substantially in stature, including significant increases in both the number and quality of the faculty. A memorial fund to support student awards was established in 1982 by his friends and family. Proceeds from this fund were used to establish the Jum Nunnally Dissertation Award in 2010.
This makes the second CatLab PhD to win this prestigious award. Jenn Richler was co-winner of the award in 2010.
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Journal of Neuroscience article featured in Research News@Vanderbilt
September 1, 2011Our recent Journal of Neuroscience article entitled Neural basis of adaptive response time adjustment is featured in Research News@Vanderbilt:
http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2011/08/new-insight-into-impulse-control/Pouget, P., Logan, G.D., Palmeri, T.J., Boucher, L., & Schall, J.D. (in press). Neural basis of adaptive response time adjustment. Journal of Neuroscience.
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New Grant from NIH
August 2, 2011Palmeri, Logan, and Schall have been awarded a new grant from the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, entitled Stochastic Models of Visual Search.
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Recent papers from the CatLab
June 25, 2011Schall, J.D., Purcell, B.A., Heitz, R.P., Logan, G.D., & Palmeri, T.J. (2011). Neural mechanisms of saccade target selection: Gated accumulator model of visual-motor cascade. European Journal of Neuroscience.
Richler, J.J., Gauthier, I., & Palmeri, T.J. (2011). Automaticity of basic-level categorization accounts for labeling effects in visual recognition memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition.
Richler, J.J., Mack, M.L., Palmeri, T.J., & Gauthier, I. (2011). Inverted faces are (eventually) processed holistically. Vision Research.
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Stephen Denton to join the CatLab
June 25, 2011Stephen Denton will be joining the CatLab as a postdoctoral fellow this fall. Stephen earned his PhD from Indiana University with John Kruschke in 2009. His thesis was entitled Exploring active learning in a Bayesian framework. For the past two years he has remained at Indiana as a postdoctoral fellow with Rich Shiffrin and Rob Nosofsky. Stephen will be joining the lab in September.
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Congratulations Dr. Mack!
May 21, 2011On Friday May 20, Mike Mack successfully defended his dissertation entitled "The Dynamics of Categorization: Rapid Categorization Unraveled". Mike is moving on to a postdoctoral fellowship at UT Austin with Brad Love and Allison Preston.
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VSS 2011 CatLab Posters
May 17, 2011