Thomas Palmeri, Ph.D.

Distinguished Professor of Psychology
Director of Undergraduate Research
Co-Director of Scientific Computing, Data Science Institute

My laboratory studies visual cognition, including visual categorization, visual memory, and visual decision making. We study how objects are perceived and represented by the visual system, how visual knowledge is represented and learned, and how visual decisions are made. We approach these questions using a combination of behavioral experiments, cognitive neuroscience techniques, and computational and neural modeling. One current project, funded by the National Science Foundation, investigates both the dynamics and individual differences of visual object categorization and perceptual expertise for objects and faces, understanding these processes through a combination of cognitive and deep learning models. Another current project, funded by the National Eye Institute, uses computational modeling of visual decision making to predict behavioral dynamics and neural dynamics.