Real-world birding expertise project now online

Posted on Nov 4, 2010

We have begun a new project recruiting and testing birding experts from around the country and beyond. After months of development and pilot testing, our web site for online tests of perceptual expertise is now up and running:

expertise.psy.vanderbilt.edu. After just a few weeks, with only cursory recruitment efforts, we have had well over 50 participants. Mike Mack deserves all the credit for his hard work putting this site together.

As part of this project, we have also created a new blog called This is Your Brain on Birds. Our goal is to share some of the past and current scientific findings with the birding community and other interested readers, as well as reflect on the insights of birders and their unique expertise. We hope that this blog will also serve as a gateway to interest and encourage even more birders to participate in our online experiments.

New papers from the CatLab

Posted on Oct 10, 2010

Mack, M.L., Richler, J.J., Gauthier, I., & Palmeri, T.J. (in press). Indecision on decisional separability. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.

Folstein, J., Gauthier, I., & Palmeri, T.J. (2010). Mere exposure alters

category learning of novel objects. Frontiers in Cognitive Science.

Neurons Cast Votes to Guide Decision-Making

Posted on Oct 10, 2010

A new paper published in Psychological Review by Purcell, Palmeri

and colleagues is highlighted in this Vanderbilt news story: http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2010/10/neurons-cast-votes-to-guide-decision-making/

New GPU Cluster Funded by Grants from NSF and Vanderbilt

Posted on Aug 2, 2010

Palmeri is a co-PI on grants recently funded by NSF and Vanderbilt to create a GPU computational cluster at Vanderbilt. GPU’s promise 10-100 fold speedups in simulations of computational models developed by the lab. For more information on this project, check out this recent new article: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/myvu/news/2010/07/29/more-computer-power-for-university.120764

New papers from the CatLab

Posted on Jun 10, 2010

Mack, M.L., & Palmeri, T.J. (in press). Decoupling object detection and categorization. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance.

Mack, M.L., & Palmeri, T.J. (in press). Modeling categorization of scenes containing consistent versus inconsistent objects. Journal of Vision.

Nelson, M.J., Boucher, L., Logan, G.D., Palmeri, T.J., Schall, J.D. (in press). Impact of nonstationary response time in stopping and stepping saccade tasks. Attention, Perception, & Performance.

Purcell, B.A., Heitz, R.P., Cohen, J.Y., Schall, J.D., Logan, G.D., & Palmeri, T.J. (in press). Neurally-constrained modeling of perceptual decision making. Psychological Review.

Gauthier, I., Wong, A.C.-N., Palmeri, T.J. (in press). Manipulating visual experience: Comment on Op de Beeck and

Baker. Trends in Cognitive Science.

Congratulations Dr. Richler!

Posted on Apr 22, 2010

Jennifer Richler, co-advised by Gauthier and Palmeri, successfully passed her doctoral dissertation defense today. Her thesis is entitled "Automaticity of basic-level categorization accounts for naming effects in recognition memory". Congratulations Dr. Richler! Now you get to learn the ultra-secret, very special handshake.

Michael Mack wins travel grant from Cognitive Science Society

Posted on Sep 18, 2009

Mike Mack won a $500 travel grant from the Cognitive Science Society to its meeting in Amsterdam this July. He presented a paper entitled Recognizing Scenes Containing Consistent

or Inconsistent Objects. Congratulations Mike.

Palmeri, Logan, and Schall awarded Chancellor’s Award for Research

Posted on Sep 18, 2009

At the Fall Faculty Assembly, Gordon Logan, Thomas Palmeri, and Jeff Schall were awarded a Chancellor’s Award for Research for the theoretical and empirical work summarized in their 2007 Psychological Review paper. Their research has combined behavioral, electrophysiological, and computational methods to test and refine alternative models of the inhibitory control processes that are recruited during the stop-signal paradigm. It is very important to acknowledge additionally Leanne Boucher, who clearly has played a very central role in this line of work.

Alan Wong’s Dissertation Research Highlight

Posted on Jul 11, 2009

A paper out of Alan Wong’s recent dissertation has been highlighted by Vanderbilt Exploration and the UPI.
Wong, A.C.-N., Palmeri, T.J., & Gauthier I. (in press). Conditions for face-like expertise with objects: Becoming a Ziggerin expert – but which type? Psychological Science.

VSS 2009

Posted on May 14, 2009

 Braden Purcell’s poster presented at VSS 2009 is available for download.

VSS 2008 Catlab posters

Posted on May 21, 2008

 Posters from the Catlab presented at VSS 2008 can be downloaded here.

Jennifer Richler and Michael Mack win Graduate Student Research Award

Posted on May 7, 2008

Jenn and Mike recently won the Pat Burns Memorial Graduate Student Research Award. This annual award recognizes outstanding achievement in research by a graduate student in the Department of Psychology at Vanderbilt University. Jenn and Mike were recognized not only for their individual achievements in research but also by their ability to work together as a collaborative team.

Some New Papers from the Catlab

Posted on Feb 6, 2008

Cheung, O.S., Richler, J.J., Palmeri, T.J., & Gauthier, I. (in press). Revisiting the role of spatial frequencies in the holistic processing of faces. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance.

Richler, J., Gauthier, I., Wenger, M., & Palmeri, T.J. (in press). Holistic processing of faces. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition.

Mack, M., Gauthier, I., Sadr, J., & Palmeri, T.J. (2007). Object detection and basic-level categorization: Sometimes you know it is there before you know what it is. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.

Mike and Jenn win Golden Greeble Award

Posted on Jun 21, 2007

May 15, 2007
Congratulations to Jenn Richler and Mike Mack for winning the "Golden Greeble Award." This award will cover travel expenses for Mike and Jenn to work with Helena Kadlec and Michael Wenger on developing new tests for perceptual and decisional loci of holistic processing.

Mike wins TA Award

Posted on Jun 21, 2007

April

25, 2007
Congratulations to Mike Mack for winning the William F. Hodges Teaching Assistant Award.