8:47 a.m., June 4, 2009----Jason Reiss, a University of Delaware alumnus who earned a doctorate in the cognitive psychology program, is one of three recipients of the 2008 James McKeen Cattell Award for Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation from the psychology section of the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS).

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Reiss' dissertation was on the topic, “Object Substitution Masking: What is the Neutral Fate of the Unreportable Target.”

Reiss explained the dissertation, saying, “People tend to think that what they see is like a photograph of the real world -- accurate in every detail; however, our brains are just not wired to handle that much information at one time. Therefore, the brain must make choices about which information will get processed and which information will be ignored. I was interested in trying to understand how our brain decides how to process the visual information coming in and how the brain treats the attended and ignored information differently. I used a phenomenon called object substitution masking, or OSM.”

He said masking just means that sometimes it's hard to see one object (the “target”) when another object (the “mask”) is around.

“Object substitution is a type of masking where the mask appears at the same time as the target, but then remains in view after the target has disappeared, and people frequently report that they never even saw the target,” he said.

What is especially interesting about OSM, Reiss said, is that “it seems to work best under conditions that violate many of the 'rules' we thought we knew about perception. Consequently, understanding how the brain deals with OSM should offer important new insights into how visual perception might work.”

To understand the neural basis of this object substitution interference, Reiss said he measured event-related potentials (ERP, a measure of electrical brain activity) in humans who were watching various OSM target/mask combinations. He was able to use these ERPs to investigate what the brain goes through when looking at OSM objects.

“The experimental results provided the first direct electrophysiological evidence regarding specific stages of target processing that are impaired during object substitution,” Reiss said.

Reiss said of the award, “The whole experience has been a strange mix of being shocked and feeling tremendously honored. I was not expecting to be named a finalist, let alone an actual winner for such a prestigious award. Even though I was confident in the experimental results, I wasn't sure how well the dissertation might match up against national and international competition. To me, this award recognizes more than my dissertation; it also serves as a testament to the superb graduate training/mentoring I received at UD.”

James E. Hoffman, professor in the Department of Psychology, was Reiss' dissertation adviser who he said “played an essential role in my training as a cognitive psychologist, especially during my dissertation.”

Hoffman said the award helps promote the high quality of graduate education at UD.

“This is a very prestigious award and the New York Academy of Sciences does a good job of disseminating information about the winners,” he said. “I hope the award will allow us to continue to attract students like Jay Reiss and the other outstanding graduate students in the psychology department at UD.”

Hoffman will also be recognized by the NYAS for his work in helping Reiss with his dissertation.

Article by Jon Bleiweis