Thomas Palmeri

Thomas Palmeri is a Professor of Psychology and co-Director of Scientific Computing at Vanderbilt University, affiliated with the Vanderbilt Vision Research Center and the Department of Psychology in the College of Arts and Science. He leads the CatLab, which investigates visual cognition through behavioral experiments, cognitive neuroscience, and computational modeling.

• BS in Cognitive Science, Carnegie Mellon University
• PhD in Psychology, Indiana University

His research focuses on visual categorization, memory, and decision-making, integrating cognitive models with neural data to understand perceptual expertise and eye movement dynamics. Recent work explores deep neural networks (DNNs) and their alignment with human visual cognition. His lab's publications span topics like ensemble perception, haptic-visual cross-modal recognition, and attentional modeling.

Key trends in his 15 most recent articles include:

• Combining DNNs with cognitive models
• Neural dynamics of saccadic decisions
• Visual-haptic interaction in object recognition
• Perceptual expertise and ensemble processing
• Bayesian methods in model evaluation
• Diagnostic decision-making in medical imaging

Scientific awards include:

• Centennial Chair (2024), Vanderbilt University's highest faculty honor
• Fellow, Society of Experimental Psychologists (2023)

As an advisor, he has mentored PhD students such as Jason Chow (2024) and Mike Mack (now Assistant Professor at University of Toronto). His work is supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Eye Institute (NEI), and Vanderbilt University.

The CatLab collaborates with interdisciplinary teams, including Gordon Logan (Psychology) and Jeffrey Schall (Neuroscience), and engages in projects funded by NIH/NEI grants. They utilize advanced computational resources at Vanderbilt, including ACCRE's GPU clusters, and contribute to undergraduate and graduate training, such as the Data Science minor program.