2021
2021 An introduction to TELLab – The Experiential Learning LABoratory, a web-based platform for educators
Saturday, May 22, 2021, 8:00 – 9:00 AM EDT
Organizers: Jeff Mulligan, Independent contractor to UC Berkeley; Jeremy Wilmer, Wellesley College
Speakers: Ken Nakayama, Jeremy Wilmer, Justin Junge, Jeff Mulligan, Sarah Kerns
This satellite event will provide a tutorial overview of The Experiential Learning Lab (TELLab), a web-based system that allows students to create and run their own psychology experiments, either by copying and modifying one of the many existing experiments, or creating a new one entirely from scratch. The TELLab project was begun a number of years ago by Ken Nakayama and others at Harvard University, and continues today under Ken’s leadership from his new position as adjunct professor at UC Berkeley. To date, TELLab has been used by around 20 instructors and 5000 students.
After a short introduction, TELLab gurus will demonstrate the process of creating and running an experiment, exporting the data and analyzing the results. Complete details can be found on TELLab’s satellite information website: http://vss.tellab.org. Potential attendees are encouraged to visit the site at http://lab.tellab.org beforehand to create their own account and explore the system on their own.
Hope to see you there. Happy experimenting!
2021 Teaching Vision
Monday, May 24, 2021, 4:15 – 6:15 PM EDT
Wednesday, May 26, 2021, 8:30 – 10:30 AM EDT
Organizer: Dirk Bernhardt-Walther, University of Toronto
Speakers: Jessica Witt, Colorado State University; Benjamin Balas, North Dakota State University; Michelle Greene, Bates College; Michael Cohen, Amherst College; Dirk Bernhardt-Walther, University of Toronto
The Covid-19 pandemic has catapulted instructors at universities and colleges into a new reality of online teaching. They had to rapidly adapt and innovate to adjust their proven classroom-based courses to the new reality of physically distant learning, with challenges to material delivery, student engagement, and student assessment. In this Satellite Event we will provide a forum for instructors teaching vision-related courses to exchange ideas, best practices, and materials. We will offer advice by experienced instructors on practical demonstrations that can be performed by students at home, student engagement in an online setting, open pedagogies in the online/hybrid realm, as well as incorporating online laboratory work in teaching vision-related courses. We will discuss ideas for bridging the gap between demonstrations and structured observations and the use of quantitative models for problem-solving in vision science courses. We invite the VSS community to participate in an open panel discussion to share their own experiences with teaching during the pandemic.
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2021 Measuring and Maximizing Eye Tracking Data Quality with EyeLinks
Saturday, May 22, 2021, 9:15 – 10:15 AM EDT
Organizer: Dr. Sam Hutton, SR Research Ltd
Speaker: Dr. Sam Hutton, SR Research Ltd
Understanding the key determinants of eye tracking data quality is critical for researchers who want to maximize their ability to detect significant effects in gaze metrics and generate and report high quality, replicable data. However, the topic is something of a terminological minefield, with concepts such as “noise” and “resolution” being used to mean different things by different researchers and manufacturers. In this Satellite Event, SR Research staff will discuss the key determinants of eye tracking data quality, and provide clear instructions for how critical data quality metrics such as accuracy and precision can be derived from EyeLink data. The workshop will also describe a range of tips and tricks that attendees can use to ensure they maximize data quality in their own EyeLink systems – from optimizing camera and participant set-up, to choosing the most appropriate calibration model. The overall aim of the event is to provide EyeLink users with the tools they need to measure and report eye tracking data quality, and to help them ensure that they are using their equipment optimally.
The following SR Research Webinar contains some useful background information: How EyeLinks Work.
For a list of other webinars and many other useful learning resources, please visit the SR Research Support Forum or the Learning Resources page on our website.
2021 Mentoring Envisioned
Friday, May 21, 2021, 2:00 – 3:30 PM EDT
Organizers: Charisse Pickron, University of Minnesota; Alejandro Lleras, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The Mentoring Envisioned project is being developed by the members of FoVea, Visibility, and SPARK, to facilitate networking and mentoring opportunities for all members of the VSS community. The first half of the event will feature a panel discussion on mentoring (sponsored by FoVea) and the second half will include small group discussions of our newly launched Mentoring Envisioned SLACK channel, which will be open to all VSS members who are interested in building community and further developing connections both through affinity groups and through scientific interests. We hope the SLACK channel and mentoring event will foster new connections that will help participants, especially those new to VSS, navigate the meeting, network, and will provide strong social support for members of underrepresented groups in the society.
2021 Performing Eye Tracking Studies in VR
Tuesday, May 25, 2021, 9:15 – 10:15 AM EDT
Tuesday, May 25, 2021, 5:15 – 6:15 PM EDT
Organizers: Belle Lin, WorldViz VR; Matthias Pusch, WorldViz VR
Speakers: Sado Rabaudi, Dan Tinkham, Matthias Pusch, Andrew Beall
WorldViz VR will teach participants how to set up and perform eye tracking studies in VR using Python and a GUI based configurator. We will explain drag and drop methods for adding 360 videos and 3D models, and demonstrate analytics methods with associated templates. At the end of this session participants will know how to insert their own 3D geometry or 360 video in VR scenes, generate 3D visualizations of the scene and gaze path, extract gaze intersects, view an interactive session replay, save out raw data, and modify the template using their own target objects and parameters.
The presentation and teaching will be provided as a remote meeting with screen-sharing. A live camera view will allow participants to observe the eye tracker setup and operation for several leading eye tracked VR headsets.
2021 Visibility: A Gathering of LGBTQ+ Vision Scientists and Friends
Monday, May 24, 2021, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT
Organizers: Alex White, Barnard College; Michael Grubb, Trinity College
LGBTQ students are disproportionately likely to drop out of science early. Potential causes include the lack of visible role models and the absence of a strong community. This virtual gathering is one small step towards filling that gap. We will form a network of support and discuss continuing challenges for queer scientists and for gay rights generally (e.g., LGBT people are not protected against employment discrimination in the majority of the United States, an issue currently before the US Congress). This year we will have a special guest speaker who is very active in promoting the interests of LGBTQ+ scientists nationally. All are welcome.
2021 Reunion: Visual Neuroscience From Spikes to Awareness
Monday, May 24, 2021, 8:45 – 10:45 AM EDT
Tuesday, May 25, 2021, 2:30 – 4:30 PM EDT
Organizer: Arash Akbarinia, Vivian Paulun, Guido Maiello, Kate Storrs, University of Giessen
Since 2004, the European Summer School, Visual Neuroscience From Spikes to Awareness, has taught many neuroscientists with a broad background. This event aims to reunite all the former alumni and trainees by presenting a number of exciting projects triggered at the Rauischholzhausen Castle. We also encourage the participation of prospective attendees who would like to learn about this Summer School, the various opportunities it offers, and the synergistic community it fosters. Alumni from all generations are invited to present their multidisciplinary, more-or-less scientific final projects. We hope there will be at least one contribution from every year of the summer school. This could be the final fun project or anything else you come up with, such as your favorite pictures from the summer school or a ‘How It Started … How It’s Going’ of the attendees, be creative! The bottom line is to meet and catch up, so please do join us.
2021 Canadian Vision Science Social: Hosted by Vision: Science to Applications (VISTA)
Friday, May 21, 2021, 8:00 – 10:00 PM EDT
Organizers: Caitlin Mullin, VISTA; Doug Crawford, York University
Speakers: Caitlin Mullin, VISTA; Doug Crawford, York University
This social event is open to any VSS member who is, knows, or would like to meet a Canadian Vision Scientist! Join us for casual discussions with students and faculty from several Canadian Institutes or to just satisfy your curiosity as to why we in the North are so polite and good natured, Eh? So grab your toques and your double-double and come connect with your favourite Canucks. This year long lock down is sure to make for some great hockey hair!
VISTA is the sponsor of the Undergraduate Just-In-Time Poster sessions.
2021 Conversations on Open Science
Friday, May 21, 5:00 – 7:00 pm EDT
Organizer: VSS Student-Postdoc Advisory Committee
Moderator: Björn Jörges, York University
Speakers: Geoffrey Aguirre, Janine Bijsterbosch, Christopher Donkin, Alex Holcombe, and Russell A. Poldrack
Open Science has become an important part of the scientific landscape. Researchers are adopting open practices such as preregistrations and registered reports, open access, and the use of open source software, journals make data and code sharing more and more a desired or even required feature of research publications, and funders are increasingly evaluating the applicants’ open science track records along with their scientific proposals. It is therefore more important than ever for all scientists, and particularly for Early Career Researchers, to be able to navigate the Open Science space. For this reason, the Student Postdoc Committee has organized Conversations on Open Science as a means to introduce the VSS community to the basics of Open Science and some current debates.
Conversations on Open Science will start out with a short overview of the most important open practices. The speakers then delve deeper into two topics: preregistration and code and data sharing. We have invited two speakers for each topic: one of them argues in favor, while the other argues against, provides some nuance, or points out limitations. Both parties will first explain their respective perspectives, followed by a joint presentation in which some synthesis or common ground will be reached.
Geoffrey Aguirre
University of Pennsylvania
Geoffrey Aguirre is an Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania. He has studied the human visual system using functional MRI for nearly twenty-five years, often combining brain imaging with complementary measures of perception and retinal structure. During his career he has contributed to the analytic and inferential foundation of neuroimaging studies. In recent years has worked to adopt and advocate for open-science tools, principally as a means to improve his own research. Contact Geoffrey at .
Janine Bijsterbosch
Washington University School of Medicine
Janine Bijsterbosch has worked in brain imaging since 2007. She is currently Assistant Professor in the Computational Imaging section of the Department of Radiology at Washington University in St Louis. The Personomics Lab headed by Dr. Bijsterbosch aims to understand how brain connectivity patterns differ from one person to the next, by studying the “personalized connectome”. Using big data resources such as the Human Connectome Project and UK Biobank, the Personomics Lab adopts cutting edge analysis techniques to study functional connectivity networks and their role in behavior, performance, mental health, disease risk, treatment response, and physiology. Dr. Bijsterbosch is Chair-Elect of the Open Science special interest group as part of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping. In addition, Dr. Bijsterbosch wrote a textbook on functional connectivity analyses, which was published by Oxford University Press in 2017. Contact Janine at .
Christopher Donkin
UNSW Sydney
Christopher Donkin is a cognitive psychologist at UNSW Sydney. His work tends to rely on a mix of computational modelling and experiments. He is interested in decision-making, memory, models, and metascience. While agreeing that open science is of utmost importance, many long series of conversations with Aba Szollosi about how knowledge is created has led to disagreement around the purported benefits of preregistration. Though the content of the talk will be specific to preregistration, the background knowledge underlying these arguments is more carefully laid out here. Contact Chris at .
Alex Holcombe
University of Sydney
Alex Holcombe studies how humans perceive and process visual signals over time, in domains such as motion, position perception, and attentional tracking. Outside of the lab, he has been active in various open science initiatives. He is an associate editor at the journal Meta-psychology and he co-founded the Registered Replication Report article format at Perspectives on Psychological Science in 2014, co-founded the Association for Psychological Science journal Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science in 2018, and served on the founding advisory boards of the preprint server PsyArxiv and the journal PLOS ONE. Contact Alex at .
Russell A. Poldrack
Stanford University
Russell A. Poldrack is the Albert Ray Lang Professor in the Department of Psychology and Professor (by courtesy) of Computer Science at Stanford University, and Director of the Stanford Center for Reproducible Neuroscience. His research uses neuroimaging to understand the brain systems underlying decision making and executive function. His lab is also engaged in the development of neuroinformatics tools to help improve the reproducibility and transparency of neuroscience, including the Openneuro.org and Neurovault.org data sharing projects and the Cognitive Atlas ontology. Contact Russ at .
Björn Jörges
York University
Björn Jörges studies the role of prediction for visual perception, as well as visuo-vestibular integration for the perception of object motion and self-motion. Beyond these topics, he also aspires to make science better, i.e., more diverse, more transparent and more robust. After finishing his PhD in Barcelona on the role of a strong earth gravity prior for perception and action, he started a Postdoc in the Multisensory Integration Lab at York University, where he currently investigates how the perception of self-motion changes in response to microgravity. Contact Björn at .