Associate Professor of Psychology
Director of Graduate Studies

Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience

Office: 507 Wilson Hall
Phone: (615) 343-7900
Fax: (615) 343-8449
Email: 

Personal Website

Laboratory Website

Curriculum Vitae

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Degrees

• B.S., Carnegie Mellon, 1987
• Ph.D., Indiana University, 1995

Research Area

• Palmeri studies perceptual categorization and related aspects of memory, object recognition, automaticity, and attention. His research utilizes behavioral research, cognitive neuroscience techniques, and computational modeling to investigate the representations and processes that underlie these aspects of human cognition. Current research examines the role of rules and instances in categorization, the development of perceptual expertise, relations between categorization and other kinds of memory, functional brain imaging and neuropsychological studies of perceptual categorization, and the dynamics of categorization decisions. Theoretical work is extending computational models to account for behavior and neural activity associated with categorization, attention, decision-making, and executive control in awake behaving monkeys

Current Positions

• Associate Professor, Department of Psychology
• Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Psychology

Professional Honors

• The Chancellor's Award for Research, 2009
• APA Division of Experimental Psychology New Investigator Award, 1998
• Irving J. Saltzman Award for Outstanding Graduate Achievement, Indiana University, 1996
• J.R. Kantor Fellow Graduate Award, Indiana University, 1995
• Indiana University Cognitive Science Fellowship, 1990
• B.S. with University Honors, Carnegie Mellon University, 1987
• Senior University Scholar, Carnegie Mellon University, 1987
• Wayne Rawley Merit Scholarship (2 years), Carnegie Mellon University, 1985
• Carnegie Institute of Technology College Scholar, Carnegie Mellon University, 1984
• University President's Award for Top 100 Student, Carnegie Mellon University, 1984

Research Associates

• Jonathan Folstein (co-advised with Isabel Gauthier)

Graduate Students

• Michael Mack
• Braden Purcell (co-advised with Jeff Schall)
• Jennifer Richler (co-advised with Isabel Gauthier)

Representative Publications

• Richler, J.J., Mack, M.L., Gauthier, I., & Palmeri, T.J. (2009). Holistic processing of faces at a glance. Vision Research.
• Mack, M.L., Wong, A.C.-N., Gauthier, I., Tanaka, J.W., & Palmeri, T.J. (2009). Time-course of visual object categorization: Fastest does not necessarily mean first. Vision Research, 49, 1961- 1968.
• Wong, A.C.-N., Palmeri, T.J., & Gauthier I. (2009). Conditions for face-like expertise with objects: Becoming a Ziggerin expert -- but which type? Psychological Science, 20, 1108-1117.
• Cheung, O.S., Richler, J.J., Palmeri, T.J., & Gauthier, I. (2008). Revisiting the role of spatial frequencies in the holistic processing of faces. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 34, 1327-1336.
• Mack, M.L., Gauthier, I., Sadr, J., & Palmeri, T.J. (2008). Object detection and basic-level categorization: Sometimes you know it is there before you know what it is. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 15, 28-35.
• Richler, J.J., Gauthier, I., Wenger, M., & Palmeri, T.J. (2008). Holistic processing of faces: Perceptual and decisional components. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 34, 328-342.
• Palmeri, T.J., & Tarr, M. (2008). Visual object perception and long-term memory. In S. Luck & A. Hollingworth (Eds., pp. 163-207), Visual Memory. Oxford University Press.
• Boucher, L., Palmeri, T.J., Logan, G.D., Schall, J.D. (2007). Inhibitory control in mind and brain: An interactive race model of countermanding saccades. Psychological Review.
• Palmeri, T.J., & Cottrell, G. (2009). Modeling perceptual expertise. In I. Gauthier, M. Tarr, & D. Bub (Eds.), Perceptual Expertise: Bridging Brain and Behavior. Oxford University Press.
• Palmeri, T.J., & Gauthier, I. (2004). Visual object understanding. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 5, 291-303.
• Palmeri, T.J., Wong, A.C.-N., & Gauthier, I. (2004). Computational models of the development of perceptual expertise. Trends in Cognitive Science.
• Palmeri, T.J., Blake, R.B., Marois, R., Flanery, M.A., & Whetsell, W.O. (2002). The perceptual reality of synesthetic color. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 99, 4127-4131
• Johansen, M.K., & Palmeri, T.J. (2002). Are there representational shifts during category learning? Cognitive Psychology, 45, 482-553
• Palmeri, T.J., & Flanery, M.A. (1999). Learning about categories in the absence of training: Profound amnesia and the relationship between perceptual categorization and recognition memory. Psychological Science, 10, 526-530
• Nosofsky, R.M., & Palmeri, T.J. (1997). An exemplar-based random walk model of speeded classification. Psychological Review, 104, 266-300.
• Palmeri, T.J. (1997). Exemplar similarity and the development of automaticity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 23, 324-354.
• Nosofsky, R.M., Palmeri, T.J., & McKinley, S.C. (1994). Rule-plus-exception model of classification learning. Psychological Review, 101, 53-79.