Volume 18: No. 1, January 2004

Distinguished Scientist Lecturers Selected for 2004 Regional Meetings
by Jean Kelleher, Special Programs Associate

Mahzarin Banaji, John Gabrieli, and Randy Gallistel have been selected to participate in the 2004 APA Distinguished Scientist Lecture Program. Sponsored by APA’s Science Directorate, each participant will give a featured address at a regional psychological association annual meeting (see http://www.apa.org/science/regionals.html for information about the seven regional psychological associations). The Board of Scientific Affairs (BSA), with the support of the regional association presidents, developed the program 14 years ago as part of its ongoing mission to promote scientific psychology. The Distinguished Lecturers, together with APA’s G. Stanley Hall Lecturers, sponsored by APA’s Educational Directorate, allow APA to support invited talks at each regional meeting.

Banaji is the Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University and the Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe Institute. She studies human thinking, feeling and attitudes in social contexts, with a focus on implicit or unconscious modes of thought. Paying special attention to how social perception and memory reveal characteristics of attitudes and beliefs, her interests lie in the unconscious nature of our assessments of ourselves and others. Banaji uses questionnaires and surveys as well as fMRI neuroimaging in her work, and she explores the implications of her findings for theories of individual responsibility and social justice. In 2000, her work with R. Bhaskar received the Gordon Allport Prize for Intergroup Relations. Banaji will speak on “Mind Bugs: The Psychology of Ordinary Prejudice” at the New England Psychological Association in Providence, RI, October 15-16, 2004.

Gabrieli is a professor of psychology in the Neurosciences Program and in Radiology at Stanford University. His research in human cognitive neuroscience explores the brain basis of memory, language and thought, examining both normal brain functions and diseased functioning in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, stoke, epilepsy, dyslexia, and attention deficit disorder. His studies include how changes in brain functions affect the growth of mental abilities in children and the decline of some abilities in normal aging. He is the senior author of over 100 scientific papers. Gabrieli will speak on “How the Human Brain Regulates Thoughts, Feelings, and Memories: Evidence from Functional Neuroimaging” at the Southwestern Psychological Association meeting in San Antonio, TX, April 8-10, 2004.

Gallistel is a professor of psychology and cognitive science at Rutgers University. He also co-directs, with his wife, Rochel Gelman, the Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science. The long term goal of his research is to determine the cellular and molecular bases of memory. Using psychophysical methods to determine quantitative characteristics of the neural substrate for reward brain stimulation, he has been exploring behavioral methods to screen genetically manipulated mice to search for the molecular machinery of memory. He has published numerous books and reviews in the area of memory. Gallistel will speak on “An Information Processing Perspective on Conditioning” at the Midwestern Psychological Association meeting in Chicago, IL, April 29 - May 1, 2004.