Tuesday, May 23, 2023, 12:30 – 2:30 pm, Jasmine/Palm

Organizers: Chaz Firestone, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University; Kevin Lande, Department of Philosophy & Centre for Vision Research, York University; Jorge Morales, Departments of Psychology and Philosophy, Northeastern University

Speakers: Wayne Wu (Carnegie Mellon), with comments from Ruth Rosenholtz (MIT); Madeleine Ransom (University of British Columbia), with comments from Isabel Gauthier (Vanderbilt); Jake Quilty-Dunn (Washington University-St. Louis), with comments from Yaoda Xu (Yale)

The past decade has seen a resurgence in conversation between vision science and philosophy of perception on questions of fundamental interest to both fields, such as: What do we see? What is seeing for? What is seeing? The phiVis workshop is a forum for continuing and expanding this interdisciplinary conversation. Short talks by philosophers of perception that engage with the latest research in vision science will be followed by discussion with a slate of vision scientists.

Conversations between philosophers of vision and vision scientists have enriched research programs in both fields. On the one hand, the latest generation of philosophers of vision are deeply immersed in the scientific literatures on natural scene statistics, visual short-term memory, ensemble perception, contour integration, amodal completion, visual salience, multi-sensory integration, visual adaptation, and much else. On the other hand, vision scientists have found a great deal of value in responding to and thinking together with philosophers about the mechanisms and effects of perceptual constancies, attentional selection, object perception, and perceptual uncertainty, to name just a handful of topics. These conversations are not only intrinsically interesting for everyone involved, they have been fruitful sources of research and collaboration. However, opportunities for dialogue are all too rare, often occurring only through chance interactions or one-off workshops. The phiVis satellite is meant to be a platform to extend these discussions.

For more information, visit: https://www.phivis.org/

Sunday, May 21, 2023, 12:30 – 2:30 pm, Sabal/Sawgrass

Organizers: Caitlin Mullin, Vision: Science to Applications (VISTA) York University; Doug Crawford, Vision: Science to Applications (VISTA) York University
Speaker: Doug Crawford, Vision: Science to Applications (VISTA) 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? We particularly encourage trainees and scientists who would like to learn about the various opportunities available through York’s Vision: Science to Applications (VISTA) program. So grab your toques and your double-double and come connect with your favourite Canucks. This event will feature free food and refreshments, with a complimentary beverage for the first 100 attendees. This event is sponsored by the York Centre for Vision Research and VISTA, which is funded in part by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF).

Saturday, May 20, 2023, 12:45 – 2:15 pm, Blue Heron

Organizers: Sado Rabaudi, Product Manager, Solutions Architect, WorldViz; Dan Tinkham, Head Of Sales, Americas, WorldViz

WorldViz VR will give an educational seminar and hands-on demonstration of the latest virtual reality and mixed reality consumer devices with built in eye tracking and will explain how this equipment can be used in a research context. This presentation will include a high level overview of virtual reality and mixed reality key concepts as well as explanations for how to create custom immersive experiments using the latest software, including a demonstration of the SightLab VR Pro drag-and-drop VR + eye tracking toolkit. WorldViz VR will also provide examples of notable publications and successful use cases for virtual reality + eye tracking research across various academic disciplines. Participants will walk away with a better understanding of currently available immersive technology and how they can use it in their own research – they may be surprised how easy it is.

Friday, May 19, 2023, 8:30 – 9:30 pm, Garden Courtyard

Organizers: Michael Grubb, Trinity College; Alex White, Barnard 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 social event is one small step towards filling that gap and will bring awareness to continuing challenges for queer scientists.

Please join us towards the end of the opening night reception, in the Garden Court (located between the Jacaranda building and the Grand Palm Colonade).

All are welcome. Snacks, drinks, and camaraderie will be provided.

Friday, May 19, 2023, 9:00 – 11:30 am, Jasmine/Palm

Organizer: Dr. Sophie Kenny, Staff Scientist at VPixx Technologies

While most vision researchers use flat-panel displays for their experiments, many also use projection systems due to their extensive range of potential applications. Projectors can be a practical solution for environments sensitive to magnetic fields (fMRI, MEG, OPM), produce a wide range of image sizes, and can often implement otherwise impossible research protocols.

The flip side of this flexibility is that few projector installations are alike, and this variability has consequences. Choices of model, manufacturer, imaging technology, projection screens, and even the equipment and observer’s relative positions can influence the final appearance of stimuli or introduce artifacts. However, published papers rarely include the information that the reader or editor requires to judge whether artifacts are likely to be present and whether they might be significant enough to influence the interpretation of results.  

In this educational session, we will present various research applications of projector displays and outline the consequences different choices may have on spatial uniformity, image content, brightness and contrast, stereo crosstalk, and more. Throughout the presentation, we will share guidelines to help researchers navigate the process of installing a new projector-based psychophysics laboratory, characterize current setups, and compare data collected across research laboratories and environments.  

To help us plan this event, please send an email to signal your interest to    

VPixx is a privately held company serving the vision research community by developing innovative hardware and software tools for vision scientists (http://www.vpixx.com).  For more general educational content, visit the VPixx Online Classroom and Library (VOCAL): www.vpixx.com/vocal

Thursday, May 18, 2023, 9:00 am – 6:00 pm, Blue Heron
Friday, May 19, 2023, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm, Blue Heron

Organizers: Marianne Maertens, Technische Universität Berlin; Jeff Mulligan, Freelance Vision Scientist; Zygmunt Pizlo, UC Irvine; Anne B. Sereno, Purdue University; Qasim Zaidi, SUNY College of Optometry

Contributed scientific talks, with coffee service and morning snacks. More information about the workshop, including how to register, can be found at the workshop website https://www.purdue.edu/conferences/events/modvis/. 

Sunday, May 21, 2023, 8:45 – 9:45 pm, Garden Courtyard

Sponsored by: Females of Vision et al (FoVea)

Organizers: Charisse B. Pickron, University of Minnesota & Diane Beck, University of Illinois

Career transitions are both exciting and scary. Some of the uncertainty regarding a new role, however, can be reduced by talking to others who have made similar transitions. This year VSS-SPC and FoVea together present a two-part ‘Career Transitions Workshop’ on navigating these diverse pathways, with Part 1: Early Career Panel and Part 2: Where do I go from here? Round-Table Discussion. 

Following Part 1, Career Transition Workshop Part 2 will feature a round table discussion with small, facilitator-led groups that cover transition topics for those in early stages (e.g., students/Postdocs) through advanced career stages (e.g., associate/emeritus). We will start the event with introductions from facilitators who have experienced various career transitions including those from Part 1. Some of the transitions Part 2 will cover include: graduate student & postdoc transitions, academia to industry, academia to government/policy/non-profit, and changing institutions, with a particular interest on issues relevant to women and gender-diverse individuals. Participants will have time to choose 1 to 2 discussion groups to join throughout the workshop. Light snacks and drinks will be served during the workshop. 

*It is not necessary to have attended Part 1 to attend Part 2, as both are different formats and attendees can benefit from both events depending on the level of interaction and discussion they would like to have. 

FoVea is a group founded to advance the visibility, impact, and success of women in vision science (www.foveavision.org). We encourage vision scientists of all genders to participate in the workshops.

Wednesday, June 1

Data Visualization Micro-Talk Event

Thursday, June 2, 2022, 5:00 – 6:00 pm EDT, Zoom Session

How to setup multi-user eye tracking experiments in VR and collect data

Wednesday, June 1, 2022, 2:30 – 3:30 pm EDT, Zoom Session

Thursday, June 2

LabMaestro Pack&Go: a new tool for running MATLAB/Psychtoolbox experiments online

Thursday, June 2, 2022, 2:00 – 3:00 pm EDT, Zoom Session

Wednesday, June 1, 2022, 2:30 – 3:30 pm EDT, Zoom Session

Organizers: Matthias Pusch, WorldViz; Andrew Beall, WorldViz

WorldViz VR will teach participants how to set up and perform Multi-User 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. We will also show how you can easily customize and add unique metaverse level avatars and perform interactions across remote locations or local LAN in an eye tracking study.

Thursday, June 2, 2022, 2:00 – 3:00 pm EDT, Zoom Session

Organizers: Lindsey Fraser, VPixx Technologies; Amanda Estephan, VPixx Technologies

Last year at V-VSS 2021, VPixx Technologies introduced a new software tool under development: LabMaestro Pack&Go, a solution for conducting MATLAB/Psychtoolbox experiments online.

In this virtual satellite talk, VPixx Staff Scientists will present the current status of Pack&Go and demonstrate its use. We will show how to upload local MATLAB experiments, recruit participants and send invitations, collect and store data, and download results files and experiment metadata. Results from an online MATLAB experiment conducted during the in-person VSS 2022 conference will be presented as an example. This talk will also cover specific concerns related to end-to-end latency, network timing and data security.