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Ben van Buren

@bvb373.bsky.social
1.2K followers 1.1K following 73 posts

Assistant Professor of Psychology at The New School in NYC studying visual perception and cognition: scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&…

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Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Very excited that this paper with @mgreenephd.bsky.social is out! Check out the thread below for what we found out about how participant height changes the nature of visual input and subsequent perception. #visionscience
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Iris van Rooij 💭 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
🚨 I have just signed this petition to keep the Cognitive Science program at Aarhus University (@au.dk) international. Please consider reading, boosting, and signing too. ✍️ The students will be grateful! This petition is on their initiative. 🙏 omnibus.au.dk/en/archive/s...
omnibus.au.dk
OPINION: AU wants international talent – but is closing the door on them at Cognitive Science
Students and alumni at Cognitive Science urge the Senior Management Team to reopen the decision to convert the Bachelor’s programme in Cognitive Science to Danish. Why should Arts be left without an E...
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Brynn Sherman @brynnsherman.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Now officially out in @psychscience.bsky.social ! journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.... @samiyousif.bsky.social
journals.sagepub.com
An Illusion of Time Caused by Repeated Experience - Brynn E. Sherman, Sami R. Yousif, 2025
How do people remember when something occurred? One obvious possibility is that, in the absence of explicit cues, people remember on the basis of memory strengt...
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Ben van Buren @bvb373.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Congratulations to Hong @hongbnguyen.bsky.social on winning a talk award at ECVP - and to all of the other awardees! We saw so much inspiring vision science in Bournemouth and look forward to seeing everyone at the next ECVP.
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Ben van Buren @bvb373.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
At ECVP? The New School Perception Lab has just one presentation this year, by PhD student Hong Nguyen @hongbnguyen.bsky.social: Pushing the envelope: Active viewing drives boundary extension Abstract: docs.google.com/document/d/1... Check out Hong’s talk on Thurs at 15:00 at Tregonwell Hall!
docs.google.com
ECVP 2026 Abstract
Pushing the envelope: Active viewing drives boundary extension Hong B. Nguyen & Benjamin F. van Buren Thurs at 15:00, Tregonwell Hall When we actively move to view a scene, planning those movements...
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Nuno De Sá Teixeira @nunodesateixeira.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
A handy, interactive demonstration of the Müller-Lyer illusion, made from card. I keep this one around, as it has proven useful for a few topics in my classes. You can find the print-ready file to build your own on my website, here: www.kymograph.pt/en/teaching/....
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Melissa Kibbe @levelsof.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Now out in an issue! Children find it easier to represent uncertainty about *what* an object is than *where* an object is, with interesting implications for both early possibility reasoning and object representations ~~ Check it out 👉 direct.mit.edu/opmi/article...
direct.mit.edu
Children’s Representations of Possibility: Uncertainty About “What” Is Easier Than Uncertainty About “Where”
Abstract. Young children struggle in situations involving mere possibility, such as when a target object could be in one of two possible locations. This difficulty is often interpreted as a general li...
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Brett Karlan @oldjerryfodor.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Jesus christ www.news.com.au/technology/o...
news.com.au
AI labs buy, scan, shred millions of rare books
If you have retreated to physical books because the internet is too full of AI slop, bad news — now they’re shredding the books to feed their AI slop machines.
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Steve Most @sbmost.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
In my recent Intro Psych lectures on cognitive psychology, I didn’t have time to delve into its history. It’s a fascinating story. Instead, I referred students to my supplemental online lecture on its background and origin, which plays as a YouTube playlist. Check it out here. Feel free to share.
youtube.com
Steve Most (UNSW Sydney) -- The Story of Cognitive Psychology - YouTube
This is the first of 5 lectures on Memory & Cognition for PSYC1011 (PSYC 1B) at UNSW in 2020. Click "PLAY ALL" to view the lecture, which should proceed thro...
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Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Excited to see that my latest #chess blog post was selected as Blog of the Month over at chess.com! Go check it out if you're interested in the intersection of chess and the cognitive science of learning. #scicomm
chess.com
Chess.com Blogs Of The Month
Here are all winners of "Blog of the Month" on Chess.com! June 2026: Science of Chess: Let your Brilliance be your guide by @NDPatzer May 2026: I Quit My Job To Play Chess by @AlexandraSamaganova Apri...
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Chaz Firestone @chazfirestone.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
out today! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
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Nancy Kanwisher @nancykanwisher.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
www.nature.com/articles/d41... Outrageous:
nature.com
NSF plans cuts to core science programmes to fund White House initiative
A proposed clawback of already distributed research funds comes as the US agency struggles with a squeezed budget and a backlog of grant applications.
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Dirk Bernhardt-Walther @dirkbwalther.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
How can aesthetic pleasure be shaped by so many visual attributes: prototypicality, fluency, complexity, symmetry, and self-relevance? I argue that aesthetic pleasure emerges from a balance between categorization-based rewards and metabolic costs of neural activity. doi.org/10.1016/j.co...
Perceptual reward as the result of multiple micro-rewards along the visual processing hierarchy. Micro-rewards may arise, for instance, from the processing of orientation in area V1, motion in the Medial Temporal area (MT), simple shapes and grouping rules in V4, objects in the Lateral Occipital Complex (LOC), faces in the Fusiform Face Area (FFA), scenes in the Parahippocampal Place Area (PPA), or the processing of abstract categories in Prefrontal Cortex (PFC).Aesthetic liking as a trade-off between perceptual reward from categorization and metabolic cost. a. The experienced pleasure from a stimulus (thick black line) is derived from the combination of perceptual reward (thin black line) and metabolic cost (dashed line), resulting in an inverted U-shaped curve.Expertise moves this curve (solid line) to the right (dotted line), fatigue to the left (dashed line). Stimuli that are enjoyed in the baseline condition (circles) are enjoyed less when fatigued because they would overwhelm the visual system. Simple stimuli that are enjoyable when fatigued (triangles) are liked less in the baseline condition because they are boring and do not provide sufficient perceptual reward. Experts would not draw much pleasure from stimuli enjoyed in the baseline condition (circles) but appreciate more complex stimuli (squares), which would be too overwhelming in the baseline condition.
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Marco Bertamini @marco-be.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
12th VPDVP conference (Padova, 26th June 2026)
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Chaz Firestone @chazfirestone.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
in ONE HOUR we close out #VSS2026 with the 6th iteration of #phiVis! Ft. talks and commentaries by @matthiasmichel.bsky.social Wilma Bainbridge, Will Davies, @vivianpaulun.bsky.social, Frédérique de Vignemont, and Bill Warren! 1pm-3pm in the Banyan/Citrus Room
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Ben van Buren @bvb373.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
This morning in the Pavilion, Sarah Lassise will present work w/ Marina Pace investigating the implicit assumptions our visual system makes about what kinds of entities can be alive & goal-directed: 43.462 Can a hole have a goal? Effects of figure/ground cues on the detection and evasion of chasing
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Ben van Buren @bvb373.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Today at 11:30 in Talk Room 2, @hongbnguyen.bsky.social will present an exciting new project! Hong shows that predictions which are generated while moving to actively view a scene can cause memory errors in which we mistake what we predicted for what we actually saw... @vssmtg.bsky.social #VSS2026
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Tim Vickery @timmytimmytimmytim.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
We are recruiting new students for our NSF-funded Bridge Program at University of Delaware this year. The positions are fully funded for 2 years and the summer bridging those years. To receive funding applicants must be residents of an NSF EPSCOR jurisdiction. Questions? email me tvickery@udel.edu
Ad for a Bridge Program for post-bac students to gain training in data science, psychology, and neuroscience. Free tuition and a graduate stipend is provided for two academic years (and the summer in between them). Apply by June 6, more info at www.psych.udel.edu/bridge-program
Contact tvickery@udel.edu with questions.
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Ben van Buren @bvb373.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
The New School Perception Lab is en route to VSS, and looking forward to seeing the latest developments in the field! Abstracts: docs.google.com/document/d/1... Presenters: Loren Matelsky @lomat.bsky.social Hong Nguyen @hongbnguyen.bsky.social Sarah Lassise Marina Pace Didi Dunin Lawrence Duan
docs.google.com
VSS 2026 Abstracts
The New School Perception Lab https://www.nssrperception.com/ VSS Presentations ‘26 A headwinds bias in visual attention: Selective detection of self-disadvantaging changes in a game of Pong Lor...
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Ben van Buren @bvb373.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
🌟 Call for Submissions: Visual Science of Art Conference VSAC will take place at King’s College London (20–22 Aug 2026). This year’s theme is 'Vision Forward: Perception, Art & Technology'. 📅 Abstracts are due May 10! 🔗 2026.vsac.eu #Perception #Art #Technology #Design #Neuroscience #Innovation
2026.vsac.eu
Visual Science of Art Conference 2026 Vision Forward: Perception, Art & Technology
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Hans Op de Beeck @hansopdebeeck.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
This @cp-neuron.bsky.social neuroview paper of the brilliant @ji-joan-lin.bsky.social on the neural basis of aesthetics provides a conceptual cornerstone for an ongoing series of impressive empirical studies in which we unveil the multidimensional nature of aesthetic experience.
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Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Quick #visionscience YT short to demonstrate some neon color-spreading effects. Enjoy! #science #psychology
youtube.com
You can draw this #opticalillusion with a highlighter! #scienceexperiment #psychology #neuroscience
YouTube video by SeeingScience
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JohnMark Taylor @johnmarktaylor.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
🧵Excited to announce— "Reimagining the binding problem(s) for the 21st century": A VSS Symposium St. Pete Beach @vssmtg.bsky.social May 15th, 10:30am Presenters: Peter Tse, JohnMark Taylor, Seda Karakose-Akbiyik, Ana Chica, Anne Sereno, & Jake Quilty-Dunn visionsciences.org/symposia/?sy...
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ECVP 2026 @ecvp.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
🎟 Registration is now open for ECVP 2026 🗓 23–27 August 2026 📍 Bournemouth, UK Join the vision science community for five days! We look forward to welcoming researchers from across Europe and beyond. 🔗 Register here: ecvp2026.uk/index.html #ECVP2026 #VisionScience #PerceptionScience
ecvp2026.uk
48th ECVP 2026 Bournemouth
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J. Brendan Ritchie @jbrendanritchie.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Our reply to 11 commentaries on our article ("Rethinking category-selectivity in human visual cortex") is out in Cognitive Neuroscience! Thanks to @susanwardle.bsky.social @maryamvaziri.bsky.social Dwight Kravitz @cibaker.bsky.social and all who contributed! 1/x www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
What behavioral relevance is (not)
We are thankful for the thoughtful commentaries of our colleagues. In our discussion article, we argued for a course correction to how the field approaches the organization of visual function in oc...
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RoordaLab @roordalab.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Vision Science makes the front page of NYT!! featuring work from @neurofishh.bsky.social and @denilsson.bsky.social with comments from Berkeley's own @karthikshekhar.bsky.social #visionscience www.nytimes.com/2026/02/23/s...
nytimes.com
The Rise of Eyes Began With Just One
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Fabian Soto @ccnlab.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
New preprint: Do expectations about how a face moves depend on its shape? Using reverse correlation and generative face models, we show that face shape changes expectations of natural expression dynamics. osf.io/preprints/ps...
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Alex White @alexlw.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
When you look around, you see a world full of objects. But can you fully identify multiple objects at once? In this new study, we revived and updated a classic experimental test: the redundant target paradigm. link.growkudos.com/1elj6rh9o8w doi.org/10.1037/xhp0...
link.growkudos.com
Can you recognize two words at once?
When you look around, you see a world full of objects. But can you truly identify multiple things at once, or are you limited to focusing on one at a time? This study investigates that limit using a s...
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Congratulations to @lillianbehm.bsky.social, Nick Turk-Browne, and a huge team for putting together this paper (out today) on lessons from a decade of attempts to study awake infants with fMRI: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Awake Infants: Insights From More Than 750 Scanning Sessions
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in awake infants has the potential to reveal how the early developing brain gives rise to cognition and behavior. However, awake infant fMRI poses signifi...
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Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
I've got a new #visionscience video for you! Today I'm showing off how to see the hidden object in Magic Eye stereograms without worrying about getting your eyes lined up the right way. If you're interested in reading why this works... <1/2>
youtube.com
How to Hack a Magic Eye Stereogram!
YouTube video by SeeingScience
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Visual Attention Lab (Wolfe Lab) @visualattentionlab.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
❗New paper published in Cognition❗ "A common signal-strength factor limits awareness and precise knowledge of multiple moving objects across the adult lifespan" from Iris Wiegand, Igor S. Utochkin, Ava Mitra, Chia-Chien Wu, and Jeremy M. Wolfe authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
authors.elsevier.com
ScienceDirect.com | Science, health and medical journals, full text articles and books.
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Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
This past weekend, I was excited to visit @museumofscience.bsky.social to start my work as a Science Communication fellow. Now that I'm back home, the #scicomm begins, starting with a new YouTube channel! Just published my 1st video & stay tuned for #visionscience content coming soon.
youtube.com
@SeeingScience waits out the Earth's rotation in Boston!
YouTube video by SeeingScience
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Ben van Buren @bvb373.bsky.social · 01/01/2026
Ran across this interesting research today (I forget what the original search was for). Wishing everyone many joyful screams in 2026. www.news.uzh.ch/en/articles/...
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Rosanne Rademaker @rademaker.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Many things in the world move, and can even move behind other things. When will the cat reappear? To predict this, remembering the cat’s speed will likely help. But... how do people remember something like speed, which is defined by displacement over both (🤯) space and time? TWEEPRINT ALERT! 🚨🧵1/n
media.tenor.com
a black cat is sitting in the snow with the words still waiting below it .
ALT: a black cat is sitting in the snow with the words still waiting below it .
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Dirk Bernhardt-Walther @dirkbwalther.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
What makes visual stimuli memorable? Wilma Bainbridge, @keisukefukuda.bsky.social, Lore Goetschalckx, and I investigate the role of processing fluency for memorability in a new review paper in Nature Reviews Psychology. Check it out! rdcu.be/eSyjz
rdcu.be
Memorability of visual stimuli and the role of processing efficiency
Nature Reviews Psychology - Certain items are better remembered than others across individuals, a property known as memorability. In this Review, Bainbridge and colleagues detail memorability...
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Wendel van der Sluis @wendelvandersluis.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
The new Art & Perception issue with all VSAC2025 abstracts is out! Hosted in the stunning MRE Wiesbaden, VSAC brought 227 contributors, 20+ artists, and immersive art–science events together. Dive into the talks, posters & performances that made VSAC2025 unforgettable: brill.com/view/journal...
The new VSAC logo. © Marella Campagna. Citation: Art & Perception 13, 4 (2025); 10.1163/22134913-bja10072.
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Ben van Buren @bvb373.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Score 1 for Aesop's town mouse: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Quick on their paws: mice living in human-disturbed areas are faster problem-solvers than mice in strictly protected areas - Animal Cognition
Animal Cognition - Cognitive and behavioural flexibility can be crucial in determining the success of animals facing fast-changing, altered, or disturbed conditions. Innovative problem-solving is...
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Ben van Buren @bvb373.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
Interesting paper investigating posing biases in pope portraiture: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
Posing popes: A question of left and right
Portraits of human faces, from Renaissance artworks to social media selfies, often show a so-called left cheek bias, with the left half of the face put forward more frequently. This is thought to c...
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Megan Fox @glassbottommeg.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
Holy shit. This guy saved a PNG to a bird. (he drew a bird into a spectrogram, played that sound to a starling, and the starling reproduced it back to him with enough accuracy he got his bird drawing back in their call's spectrogram) www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCQC...
youtube.com
I Saved a PNG Image To A Bird
YouTube video by Benn Jordan
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Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Another #VisionScience demo for your Halloween over at my teaching website. This time, a very basic version of the Gelb Staircase. This one has a reputation for being tricky, but I've found it to be pretty successful.
docs.google.com
Vision Demos: Gelb Staircase
Vision Demos: Gelb Staircase Things you will need: Paper in a range of grayscale values, ideally spanning black to white. Lots of art vendors will have these, but it’s useful to have a heavier weigh...
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Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
A quick webpage update to showcase my textbook PRACTICAL VISION SCIENCE! If you're thinking about options for your Spring course in #visionscience, check it out! sites.google.com/view/hands-o...
sites.google.com
Hands-on Vision Science - Practical Vision Science textbook
I'm passionate about developing hands-on learning experiences to support vision science education in undergraduate classrooms and informal learning for all ages. Practical Vision Science is my attempt...
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Dr. Nick Posegay @nposegay.northsky.social · 17/09/2025
I'm sorry, worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable permission to my voice and likeness? For what now? In any manner for any purpose??? This is in academia/.edu's new ToS, which you're prompted to agree to on login. Anyway I'll be jumping ship. You can find my stuff at hcommons.org.
By creating an Account with Academia.edu, you grant us a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable license, permission, and consent for Academia.edu to use your Member Content and your personal information (including, but not limited to, your name, voice, signature, photograph, likeness, city, institutional affiliations, citations, mentions, publications, and areas of interest) in any manner, including for the purpose of advertising, selling, or soliciting the use or purchase of Academia.edu's Services.
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Alex White @alexlw.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Advocating for vision research on Capitol Hill! With the National Alliance for Eye & Vision Research + Research to Prevent Blindness + fellow vision scientists. Thanks to Congress for currently planning to maintain NIH & NEI funding! #seewhatmatters @corticalcavanaugh.bsky.social www.rpbusa.org
Group of people in the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building Group of people in business attire in front of the office of Senator SchumerFour vision nerds in front of the US Capitol Building
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Ben van Buren @bvb373.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
Tomorrow (Thurs) at 9am in HS19, Marina Pace will present a series of studies that she ran with Tessa Bury, to test whether observers perceive *implied motion* in accessibility icons. #ECVP2025
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ECVP 2026 @ecvp.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
#ECVP2025 In addition to yesterday's Illusion Night we would like to mention the contribution of @elinevg.bsky.social and @lisa-kossmann.bsky.social about Open-Source Toolboxes for aesthetics and perception.
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Ben Balas @bjbalas.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
Hey #VisionScience friends - If your work has connections to topics like #dataviz, art, computer vision, or applied vision, consider submitting to HVEI 2026! The deadline was extended to Sept. 12 & it's a really wonderful conference. Happy to answer questions if you want to know more.
imaging.org
Human Vision and Electronic Imaging 2026 (HVEI)
The HVEI conference explores the role of human perception and cognition in the design, analysis, and use of electronic media systems.
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Ben van Buren @bvb373.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
At 9:15 in HS19, hongbnguyen.bsky.social will present her work demonstrating an advantage predicting the behavior of simple shapes which look alive and goal-directed! #ECVP
hongbnguyen.bsky.social
Hong B. Nguyen (@hongbnguyen.bsky.social)
PhD student @TheNewSchool, NYC
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Ben van Buren @bvb373.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
Spotted some appropriate public art in Wiesbaden on the way from VSAC to ECVP. #ECVP #VSAC2025
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Ben van Buren @bvb373.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
Maya Theresia Laughton presenting a beautiful film weaving together ideas from science and Hindu spirituality, called ‘Noumenon’. She made the film in collaboration with Janna Kyllästinen, as part of the Science New Wave Festival. #VSAC2025
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