John Serences Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego Trained at Johns Hopkins University, John Serences was awarded the PhD in Psychological and Brain Sciences in 2005 under the supervision of Steven Yantis. After one year of post-doctoral training at the Salk with Geoffrey Boynton, he took up a faculty position at University of California, Irvine in 2007 before moving to University of California, San Diego in 2008, where he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2011. Dr. Serences is an internationally recognized leader in the field of visual attention and a pioneer of cutting edge quantitative and neuroimaging techniques. He has adopted an interdisciplinary approach that combines psychophysics, cognitive behavioral modeling, functional MRI, and EEG to make significant contributions in the fields of visual attention, working memory, perceptual decision making, and perceptual learning. Dr. Serences has developed cutting edge data analyses that open up new possibilities for the types of questions that can be addressed with human neuroimaging tools.

In his early work, Dr. Serences demonstrated that transient neural signals – emanating from either inferior or superior parietal cortex – play a key role in reinitializing the visual system so that relevant sensory stimuli can guide future acts of stimulus selection. His work on feature-based attention demonstrated that feature-specific attentional modulations spread across the visual field – even to regions of the scene that do not contain a stimulus. In this recent work, Dr. Serences developed a method for quantifying feature-selective responses in human visual cortex, which offers profound opportunities to build on our existing knowledge of sensory processing derived from single-unit recordings and provide novel insight into population-level representations of simple stimulus properties. He also used an encoding model to reconstruct the spatial representations of a stimulus under different task demands from fMRI activation patterns across cortical regions of interest. He showed that spatial attention enhances stimulus representations in higher-order visual areas but not in earlier visual areas, consistent with the spatial priority map framework. Dr. Serences is not only prolific, but he exhibits an unwavering commitment to mentorship – resulting in a team of highly motivated and proficient students – and fosters long-lasting collaborations across universities and disciplines. With his development and application of cutting-edge quantitative methods in human neuroimaging, Dr. Serences is changing the face of vision research. Elsevier/Vision Research Article Selective attention and visual information processing Monday, May 18, 12:30 pm, Talk Room 2 Selective information processing – or selective attention – is supported by changes in neural gain, changes in neural variability, and changes in the shape of tuning functions. Traditionally, these effects have been examined in isolation and researchers have tried to infer how each type of modulation impacts the information content of sensory codes. However, examining each modulatory effect in isolation can obscure our understanding of how attention dynamically shapes the quality of perceptual representations. Fortunately, new techniques can more precisely characterize large-scale neural activity patterns, and I will discuss how several such approaches can reveal insights about the joint impact of attentional modulations on information processing in visual cortex.

The Ken Nakayama Medal is in honor of Professor Ken Nakayama’s contributions to the Vision Sciences Society, as well as his numerous innovations and consistent excellence in the vision sciences. The Medal is given to any vision scientist who has made exceptional, significant, or lasting contributions to vision science. The nature of this work can be fundamental, clinical, or applied. Nominations of scientists from all career stages are encouraged.

Nomination Process

Nominations may be made by any (a) regular member, or (b) postdoctoral member, or (c) those who hold emeritus status. A nominee need not be a current member of the Vision Sciences Society. Previously considered nominees are eligible to be re-nominated.

The nomination must include the following:

• One nomination letter, outlining in detail the contributions and innovations of the nominee, discussing clear indicators of the nominee’s impact on the field of vision science. The nomination letter can be co-signed.
• A curriculum vita including an up-to-date publication list.
• No more than four letters of support, three of which must be from regular members, postdoctoral members, or those who hold emeritus status.

Nominations should be submitted by email to Shauney Wilson.

Nominations will be reviewed by an Award Committee, consisting of the five most recent past-presidents of the Vision Sciences Society. Members of the Award Committee and of the VSS Board of Directors may not serve as nominators or nominees, or provide letters of support.

Schedule

Nominations Open: November 24, 2024
Nominations Close: January 24, 2025
Recipient Announced: by February 27, 2025

The Davida Teller Award is in honor of Professor Davida Teller’s exceptional scientific achievements, commitment to equity, and strong history of mentoring. The award is given to a female vision scientist in recognition of her exceptional, significant, or lasting contributions to the field of vision science. The nature of this work can be fundamental, clinical or applied. The award is open to all career stages.

Nomination Process

Nominations may be made by any current (a) regular member, or (b) postdoctoral member, or (c) those who hold emeritus status. A nominee must have been an active VSS member in recent years. Previously considered nominees are eligible to be re-nominated.

The nomination must include the following:

1. One nomination letter, outlining in detail the contributions and innovations of the nominee, discussing clear indicators of the nominee’s impact on the field of vision science. The nomination letter can be co-signed.
2. A curriculum vita including an up-to-date publication list.
3. No more than four letters of support, three of which must be from regular members, postdoctoral members, or those who hold emeritus status.

Nominations should be submitted by email to Shauney Wilson.

Nominations will be reviewed by an Award Committee consisting of the President of VSS, a member of the VSS Board of Directors, and four established scientists selected from the VSS membership. Members of the Award Committee and of the VSS Board of Directors may not serve as nominators or nominees, or provide letters of support.

Schedule

Nominations Open: November 25, 2024
Nominations Close: January 24, 2025
Recipient Announced: by March 10, 2025

The Elsevier/VSS Young Investigator Award, sponsored by Vision Research, is given to an early-career vision scientist who has made outstanding contributions to the field. The nature of this work can be fundamental, clinical, or applied. The award selection committee gives highest weight to the significance, originality and potential long-range impact of the work. The selection committee may also take into account the nominee’s previous participation in VSS conferences or activities, and substantial obstacles that the nominee may have overcome in their careers.   The awardee is asked to give a brief presentation of her/his work and is required to write an article to be published in Vision Research.

Nomination Process

Nominations may be made by any current regular member or postdoctoral member of the Vision Sciences Society, as well as those who hold emeritus status. A nominee must be an active VSS member, attending at least three of the last five VSS meetings. Nominees may have no more than 10 years of active research experience since earning their terminal degree, allowing for the exclusion of times that typically “stop the clock” in academic tenure track positions. For the upcoming 2025 award, if there was no break in active research/teaching, the degree must have been awarded in or after 2015. If still eligible, nominees from previous years can be re-nominated.

The nomination must include:

1. A nomination letter, outlining in detail the scientific contributions of the nominee, and discussing clear indicators of exceptional impact on the field of vision science. The nomination letter can be co-signed.
2. If life circumstances (e.g., leaves of absence) would extend the period of eligibility for the award, a brief statement should be included (even if the candidate is not in the final year of eligibility).
3. A curriculum vita including an up-to-date publication list.
4. One letter of support from regular members, postdoctoral members or those who hold emeritus status.

Nominations should be submitted by email to Shauney Wilson.

Nominations are reviewed by an Award Committee consisting of a representative of the VSS Board of Directors and five established scientists selected from VSS membership. Members of the Award Committee and of the VSS Board of Directors cannot serve as nominators or provide letters of support.

Schedule

Nominations Open: December 12, 2024
Nominations Close: February 10, 2025
Recipient Announced: March 27, 2025