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ANNE TREISMAN HONORED WITH NATIONAL MEDAL OF SCIENCE

Anne Treisman
[2.19.13]

President Barack Obama awards the National Medal of Science to psychologist Anne Treisman in a ceremony at the White House on February 1, 2013 in Washington, DC.  

COMMENTS: Steven Pinker, Michael Gazzaniga, Michael Goldberg & Eric Kandel

ANNE TREISMAN, the Eremitus James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Psychology at Princeton University, where she  taught beginning in 1993 is one of the most influential cognitive psychologists in the world today.  In recognition of her achievements, she was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Barack Obama in a white House ceremony in January, 2013.  

For over 40 years she has been defining fundamental issues of how information is selected and integrated to form meaningful objects and memories that guide human thought and action. Her creativity and insight have often challenged investigators to think outside the box, to reach beyond their own specialties and to address the hard questions of human cognition. Her current research interests include visual perception of objects and the role of attention, integration of information in perception of moving and changing objects, perceptual learning, visual memory for objects and events, and the coding of shape and motion.

Dr. Treisman is married to psychologist Daniel Kahneman, recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics.

 

WHAT'S THE QUESTION ABOUT YOUR FIELD THAT YOU DREAD BEING ASKED?

Sendhil Mullainathan
[3.28.13]

"Don't ask."

What question about your field do you dread being asked? Maybe it's a sore point: your field should have an answer (people think you do) but there isn't one yet. Perhaps it's simple to pose but hard to answer. Or it's a question that belies a deep misunderstanding: the best answer is to question the question.  

WHAT'S THE QUESTION ABOUT YOUR FIELD THAT YOU DREAD BEING ASKED?

For me, it would be "Why are there recessions?" Don't ask.

SENDHIL MULLAINATHAN is Professor of Economics at Harvard. In 2011, he was appointed by the U.S. Treasury Department to serve as Assistant Director for Research at The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

[ED. NOTE: Word Length for comments: up to 500 words.]

CONTRIBUTORS: Raj Chetty, Lawrence Krauss *, Adam Alter *, George Dyson, Jens Ludwig, Emanuel Derman, Scott Atran, Jaron Lanier, Haim Harari, Richard Thaler, Paul Bloom, Michael Norton *, Samuel Arbesman *, Lillian Lee *, Jon Kleinberg *, Nicholas Epley *,  Susan Blackmore, NEW  Nicholas Epley

* Sendhil Mullainathan responds

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