Clarence Henry Graham: American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award.

Reports that Clarence Henry Graham is one of the recipients of the 1966 American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award. His citation reads: "For his studies of afferent and central mechanisms of behavior and of psychological methods. His early work with collaborators led to the first recording of electrical activity in single nerve fibers in the visual system. His behavioral analyses of the psychophysical methods, his quantitative measurements of the acquisition, extinction, and spontaneous recovery of the simple running response, his studies of area-intensity and intensity-time relations in visual psychophysics, his investigations of space perception, particularly stereoscopic cues and monocular movement parallax, and, most recently, his research on color vision and color blindness are models of effective, quantitative research. Singly they are important; in toto they are an impressive contribution to human enlightenment." A personal biography is also included, along with a listing of his scientific writings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Leo M. Hurvich (1910–2009).

Leo M. Hurvich, a renowned figure in the field of human color vision, died on April 25, 2009, at age 98, in New York City. His research brought to the mainstream a theoretical framework for understanding human color perception in terms of underlying opponent-color mechanisms. When most psychologists and virtually all physiologists and physicists had sought principally to explain how physically different lights match in color, or how neural responses from photoreceptors combine to give the threshold of visually perceptible differences, Hurvich, together with his lifelong collaborator and wife, Dorothea Jameson, focused on understanding the appearance of hue, saturation, and brightness. The influence of their work has been profound and enduring. Their 1957 paper in Psychological Review (Hurvich & Jameson, “An Opponent-Process Theory of Color Vision”) has been referenced in 49 of the last 50 years and continues to be cited often. Hurvich lived a long and rich life, including more than 50 years in a scientific and personal partnership with Dorothea Jameson that blended independence and mutual support most wonderfully, enriching the lives of many in their circle of family, friends, and colleagues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Awards for Distinguished Scientific Contributions 1986: Gunnar Johansson.

Gunnar Johansson is one of the 1986 recipients of the Awards for Distinguished Scientific Contributions. Johansson receives this award because of his "penetrating theoretical insights into human visual perception, combined with ingenious and creative experimental research. His analysis of how environmental regularities are exploited by perceptual decoding principles anticipated current thinking about constraints and inferential processors. His experimental studies have provided much of the foundation for our understanding of motion and depth perception. Together with his students, he developed a substantial body of innovative research on perceptual vector analysis and on the perception of minimal events, biological motion, nonrigid motion, self-motion, and natural motions. His advanced thinking provides continuing leadership and inspiration for current researchers in visual perception." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distinguished Scientific Contribution Awards for 1978: Julian Hochberg.

Julian Hochberg was presented a Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award for his insightful recognition that the central problem of human perception is to explain how perception is organized, and for highly significant theoretical contributions toward greater understanding of this central problem. Ranging from studies of the Ganzfeld to the cinema, he has ingeniously brought a wide variety of data to bear on his theories of perceptual organization, His convincing demonstrations of how the observer imposes his own organization on the sequence of visual information arriving at the retina has greatly enhanced our understanding of one of the oldest problems in psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hering and the scientific establishment.

Praises the methods and achievements of Ewald Hering concerning neurophysiology and sensory research, particularly in his color vision work, and discusses how they relate to the "scientific establishment" of his day and the present. 3 points are emphasized. (1) If his writings were assimilated, unnecessary confusion and repetition of research could be reduced. (2) Reasons why there is resistance of scientists to scientific discovery are offered. (3) The possible questions and impact that his opinion and views, which are still ahead of the time, may pose for researchers today. His approach to the problems of memory and color coding in the visual mechanism are examined in relation to those of other neurophysiologists, i.e., H. Hemboltz, T. N. Wiesel, and D. N. Hubel. (81 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Angus Campbell.

Presents the biography and scientific contributions for Angus Campbell, a recipient for the award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution in 1974. For his leadership in bringing social psychology to bear upon the patterning of perceptions, attitudes, and complex behaviors observed in historically significant populations, through the development of the sample survey. His research interests have ranged widely, from seminal studies of political behavior, through race relations, to more recent inquiries concerning the perceived quality of life. His wisdom and far-sightedness as an administrator have nurtured a large research institution of remarkable disciplinary breadth, and he commands the deep respect and affection of his diversely trained colleagues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Muzafer Sherif: Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award.

Acknowledges the presentation of the American Psychological Association (APA) 1968 Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award to Muzafer Sherif. The citation reads: "For his dedication to objective, quantitative measures in numerous studies of interpersonal behavior. He and his colleagues have shown that methods developed in psychophysics and scaling can be fruitfully applied in the investigation of social judgments and attitudes. His early study of the autokinetic phenomenon in a social context galvanized social psychologists into approaching their problems with the methods and tools used in the study of sensation and judgment, and his later study of formation and characteristics of democratic and authoritarian societies, to mention only these, stand as classics in social psychology. In his devotion to basic research he has contributed importantly to the extension of scientific psychology to the study of group behavior." A biography and a listing of the awardee's scientific writings are also included. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions: Alan D. Baddeley.

Alan D. Baddeley received the 2001 Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions. He was given this award for being a renaissance man in the study of human cognition. His best known work has revealed how working memory is structured to handle processing and active maintenance of task-relevant information. This work has also established the centrality of working memory to cognitive function. More broadly, his research has advanced our understanding of memory in children, young adults, and the elderly and of memory change with brain damage. His many books and review papers have conveyed the insights and excitement of memory research to scholars, students, and lay audiences alike. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

R. Duncan Luce: Distinguished Scientific Contribution Awards.

Presents the citation of the 1970 American Psychological Association's Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award winner, Robert Duncan Luce. The award citations reads: "For his leadership in the development of theories that range from social behavior, to learning and memory, to perception and psychophysics. By his judicious use of mathematical methods he has contributed significantly to the development of psychology as a quantitative science. The hallmark of his research has been to take an extremely simple set of axioms and explore in detail their implications for a wide range of phenomena. For example, in his theory of choice, a general axiom concerning selections from related sets of alternatives is shown to have important applications in such diverse fields as psychophysics, learning, and social utility. Mathematical theory dominates his work, but it is by no means anti-empirical; it has been a stimulus for many important experimental studies. His recent contribution to the theory of measurement has broad ramifications not only for psychology but for the general methodology of all sciences." Personal biographic information is also included, along with a list of the recipient's scientific writings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Richard Lester Solomon: American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award.

Reports that Richard Lester Solomon is one of the recipients of the 1966 American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award. His citation reads: "For his incisive and insistent inquiry into fundamental problems of discrimination, of word recognition thresholds, and of conditioning. His studies give us deep insights into the way the nervous system relates the organism to its world. At his side, colleagues and students have learned dignity and persistence, as well as master craftsmanship in research, responding warmly to his quietly contagious enthusiasm. And while he prefers for himself a measured and manageable framework, he has given steady encouragement to others' views and efforts." A personal biography is also included, along with a listing of his scientific writings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Award for Distinguished Scientific Applications of Psychology: David T. Lykken.

David T. Lyyken received the 2001 Award for Distinguished Scientific Applications of Psychology. He was given this award for his theoretical and methodological contributions to personality, psychopathology, and the assessment of emotional responding. His demonstration of low fear temperament and impulsivity in psychopathy stimulated a vast literature on the nature of that deficit. He developed the Guilty Knowledge Test and criticized traditional lie detection, stimulating public policy debate on that critical topic. His Activity Preference Questionnaire provided an alternative to neuroticism as a conceptualization of anxiety in psychopathy that is represented in current personality measures, and his concept of 'perception' has proved valuable in assessing risk for substance abuse. Using twin studies, he demonstrated high heritability for numerous psychophysiological responses and developed the concept of emergenisis. He published extensive methodological issues on how to record electrodermal activity, culminating in a proposal for standardization that is universally followed today. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Wendell Richard Garner (1921-2008).

Wendell Richard Garner was born on January 21, 1921, in Buffalo, New York, and died quietly on August 14, 2008, in Redding, Connecticut. He was an experimental psychologist who changed the way researchers study human perception and cognition. He provided new knowledge about how people process information and structure and about how to ask scientific questions. Three classes of his contributions are particularly noteworthy. His concept of converging operations, that outcomes of different studies converge on a common concept, paved the way to powerful analytic techniques, such as additive factors modeling. His information and structure ideas shaped research in perception and cognition and pattern recognition. His perceptual independence notions set the stage for hundreds of studies of dimensional independence and interaction, of perceptual integrality and separability, and of dimensional attention that are still actively pursued. Life for Tex was not all science and administration. He collaborated on Earnshaw Cook's Percentage Baseball (1964) and briefly consulted with the Baltimore Orioles baseball club. I asked why he did not similarly analyze football for the Baltimore Colts. He said it might spoil his love for that game. After his death, nonsolicited kudos circulating on the Internet included such comments as "I wish I had known him" and "I didn't know him, but I did know his elegant and insightful work." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Case of the Color-Blind Boy.

"But how do we know what the color-blind person really sees, or whether we see things differently?" is a question frequently raised by students. Readers may be interested in a unique case which is a part answer, or at least a help on this old problem. This boy had normal color vision until the age of 16, when he suffered carbon disulphide poisoning and became totally color-blind. Now 2 1/2 years later, he reports that his dreams are sometimes in color, whereas his perceptions and usual dreams are in black-gray-white. Moreover, on rare occasions when his eyes are well rested, he reports capacity for normal color vision for a short time. He shows no symptoms of psychosis or hysteria. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

David C. McClelland.

David C. McClelland is recognized for his achievements in psychology. This article provides a citation explaining his accomplishments, a biography and a selected bibliography. The citation is as follows: "For leading the vanguard of a new motivational psychology bridging the study of personality and society, beginning forty years ago with methodological innovations and empirical discoveries of lasting significance in pioneering studies of the Achievement Motive and the Achieving Society. By experimental arousal of achievement motivation, he established the validity of using a particular kind of imaginative thought content as its measure. Combining bold vision and practicality, he turned traditional arguments into testable hypotheses. His broad and indelible impact on the social sciences is amplified by seminal writings on personality, the power motive, motivation training—and by the productivity he inspired in his students." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

David Krech: Distinguished Scientific Contribution Awards.

Presents the citation of the 1970 American Psychological Association's Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award winner, David Krech. The award citation reads: "The friends of David Krech will say that his career has been brilliant, varied, and consistently creative. His enemies will say that he has been What happens in the brain when an organism learns? Krech and his colleagues have helped to restate the problem, to mobilize new techniques, and to launch promising studies in the neurophysiology, and neurochemistry of behavior. It should be mentioned that David Krech is much more than just a good scientist. He is also a good member of society, and a good human being. He is always on the right side--which is sometimes the left side--of a controversy. He is always in there lighting. A good man, and true!" Personal biographic information is also included, along with a list of the recipient's scientific writings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patrick Suppes: Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award.

Recognizes the receipt of the American Psychological Association's 1972 Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award by Patrick Suppes. The award citation reads: "For his wide-ranging contributions to theory, experiment, and application in psychology. His theories, which combine logical precision, mathematical power, and testability, include fundamental probabilistic analyses of learning, algebraic studies of utility, geometric representations of perceptual processes, and penetrating work on the logic of measurement. His experiments concern utility and game situations, discrete and continuous learning, and the attainment of logical, arithmetic, and linguistic concepts. His applications to computer-assisted instruction grow out of explicit theory and pertinent experiments and exploit the nationwide computer facility he has developed. Outside of psychology, he is widely respected for his work in logic and the philosophy of science, especially physics." A biography and a listing of the recipient's scientific writings are included. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

If Kant was director of Clinical Training.

While Immanuel Kant is recognized as one of history's most influential philosophers and ethicists, his thought and writings also contain significant clinical implications that deserve attention. His philosophy is briefly explained and shown to anticipate modern developments in understanding human consciousness and many principles for effective psychotherapy. Kant's "categorical imperative," in particular, implies and anticipates valuable clinical interventions. Kant's principles that are ethically "right" for clients turn out to be clinically "good" for them as well. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Roger N. Shepard: Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award.

Recognizes the receipt of the American Psychological Association's 1976 Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award by Roger N. Shepard. The award citation reads: "For his pioneering work in cognitive structures, especially his invention of nonmetric multidimensional scaling, which has provided the social sciences with a tool of enormous power for uncovering metric structures from ordinal data on similarities. In addition, his novel studies in recognition memory and pitch perception, and his latest innovative work on mental rotations--operations that may well underlie our ability to read and to recognize objects--have all contributed materially to our understanding of cognitive processes. His style of research exhibits a beautiful combination of depth and simplicity." A biography and a listing of the recipient's scientific writings are also included. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Floyd Henry Allport: Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award.

Presents the 1965 American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award to Floyd Henry Allport. The citation reads: "For leading the way to an understanding of behavior at both the organismic and the collective levels. Despite the unmatched complexities of the phenomena, his proposals are meaningful and verifiable. The main goal he has set before us is to see clearly the way events structure themselves within individuals and between them. The establishment of quantitative relationships between variables is seen as a means but not an end. He has followed less travelled paths, and along the way has developed fresh approaches to the study of conformity, attitudes, personality, and institutional processes. His students have been strengthened by his friendship and challenged by his towering standards of scholarship, experimentation, and exposition." Biographical information is also provided, along with a list of the award winner's scientific writings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)