Emeritus Professor
Research Professor

Cognitive Science and Neuroscience

Office: 510 Wilson Hall
Phone: (615) 322-2398
Fax: (615) 343-8449
Email: 

Personal Website

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Degrees

• Ph.D., University of Illinois, 1966.

Research Area

• Lappin conducts psychophysical research on the visual perception of motion, shape, and space. The goal is to discover how the visual system recovers information about the structure of the world from changing patterns of light. Current research investigates (a) elementary mechanisms of visual motion processing, (b) perception of moving 2D and 3D shape, (c) geometry of visual space, and (d) visual skills of children and adults with low vision.

Representative Publications

• Lappin, J.S., Shelton, A.L., & Rieser, J.J. (in press). Environmental context influences visually perceived distance. Perception & Psychophysics.
• Tadin, D., Lappin, J.S., & Blake, R. (2006). Fine temporal properties of center-surround interactions in motion processing revealed by reverse correlation. The Journal of Neuroscience, 26, 2614-2622.
• Tadin, D. & Lappin, J.S. (2005). Optimal size for perceiving motion decreases with contrast. Vision Research, 45, 2059-2064.
• Norman, J.F., Norman, H.F., Lee, Y., Stockton, D., & Lappin, J.S. (2004). The visual perception of length along intrinsically curved surfaces. Perception & Psychophysics, 66 (1), 77-88.
• Tadin, D., Lappin, J.S., Gilroy, L.A., & Blake, R. (2003). Perceptual consequences of centre-surround antagonism in visual motion processing. Nature, 424, 312-315.
• Koenderink, J.J., van Doorn, A.J., & Lappin, J.S. (2003). Exocentric pointing to opposite targets. Acta Psychologica, 112, 71-87.
• Tadin, D., Lappin, J.S., Gilroy, L.A., & Blake, R. (2003). Perceptual consequences of centre-surround antagonism in visual motion processing. Nature, 424, 312-315
• Tadin, D., Lappin, J. S., Blake, R., & Grossman, E. D. (2002). What constitutes an efficient reference frame for vision? Nature Neuroscience, 5, 110-115
• Lappin, J.S., Tadin, D. & Whittier, E.J. (2002). Visual coherence of moving and stationary image changes. Vision Research, 42, 1523-1534
• Lappin, J.S., Donnelly, M. P, & Kojima, H. (2001). Coherence of early motion signals. Vision Research, 41, 1631-1644
• Norman, J.F., Lappin, J.S., & Norman, H. (2000). Visual perception of length on a physically curved surface. Perception & Psychophysics, 62(6), 1133-1145
• Lappin, J.S., & Craft, W.D. (2000). Foundations of spatial vision: From retinal images to perceived shapes. Psychological Review, 107 (1), 6-38
• Koenderink, J.J., van Doorn, A.J., & Lappin, J.S. (2000). Direct measurement of the curvature of visual space. Perception, 29, 69-79
• Perotti, V.J., Todd, J.T., Lappin, J.S., & Phillips, F. (1998). The perception of surface curvature from optical motion. Perception and Psychophysics, 60(3), 377-388.
• Lappin, J. S., & Craft, W.D. (1997). Definition and detection of binocular disparity. Vision Research, 37(21), 2953-2974.