New faces joining the lab
Jianhong Chen is joining the lab this fall as a new graduate student in Psychological Sciences. Jianhong is getting her undergraduate degree from Peking University, one of the top three universities in China, where she worked with professor Fang Fang. Her research at PKU focused on adaptation, perceptual learning and EEG. For her graduate study, she is interested in perceptual expertise.
We also have two undergraduates working in the laboratory this summer on research fellowships. Billy Bunce will work with Jenn Richler and Mike Mack on a project modeling perceptual expertise. Akash Umakantha will work with Braden Purcell on neural models of perceptual decision making.
Congratulations Dr. Ross!
Congratulations to David Ross for successfully passing the oral defense of his PhD thesis
from Cardiff University. Well done Dr. Ross!
Tim Vickery takes faculty position at the University of Delaware
Tim Vickery worked in the lab as an undergraduate and as a research assistant before going on to earn his PhD
in psychology at Harvard with Yuhong Jiang. Tim is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University with Marvin Chun. Tim just accepted a faculty position at the University of Delaware. Congratulations Tim!
New paper to appear in Cerebral Cortex
Congratulations to Jonathan Folstein on our new paper to appear in Cerebral Cortex:
Folstein, J., Palmeri, T.J., Gauthier, I (2012). Category learning increases discriminability of relevant object dimensions in visual cortex. Cerebral Cortex. [PDF]
A couple of recent papers from the CatLab
Purcell, 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]
NSF Renews TDLC center grant
The 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/
Scientific Computing minor highlighted in Vanderbilt Engineering magazine
The 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.
Mike Mack wins Jum Nunnally Dissertation Award!
Michael 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.
Journal of Neuroscience article featured in Research News@Vanderbilt
Our 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.
New Grant from NIH
Palmeri, Logan, and Schall have been awarded a new grant from the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, entitled Stochastic Models of Visual Search.