Guest Editors
Laura Cacciamani, California Polytechnic State University, USA
Bradley S. Gibson, University of Notre Dame, USA

Editor-in-Chief
Sarah Shomstein, The George Washington University, USA

Overview
Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics seeks paper submissions that consider the contributions of top-down and bottom-up information on any aspect of perception and attention in celebration of Professor Mary A. Peterson’s career. For the past three decades, Dr. Peterson has been a leader in the study of how “top-down” forms of information such as knowledge and intention can influence perception. For instance, Dr. Peterson has garnered strong evidence to support the ideas that an observer’s perceptual intentions to perceive one interpretation of an ambiguous display can influence visual perception per se, and not just response; that preexisting representations of shape and meaning stored in an individual’s memory can influence fundamental aspects of perceptual organization that segregate the visual world into objects (figures) and backgrounds; that competition is a mechanism of figure/object detection; and that, due to a previously unconsidered background prior, many of the original Gestalt displays intended to isolate a single image-based figural prior are ambiguous. Dr. Peterson has also contributed to clarifying the relationship between attention and figure-ground perception and has demonstrated that recurrent processing plays a critical role in perceptual organization even when putatively high-level factors are absent. By combining evidence obtained from behavioral, neuroimaging, and neuropsychological approaches, Dr. Peterson’s research program stands as a model for contemporary, theory-driven approaches to cognitive science and cognitive neuroscience. Research articles that address these and other related topics would be welcomed.

The issue will reflect the Psychonomic Society’s commitment to scientific merit, which entails the inclusion of scientists regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, disability status, country of origin, geographic location, and disciplinary expertise.

Submit a Manuscript
The submission deadline is now closed. The target publication date is April 2025. All submissions will undergo a standard, full peer review, maintaining the same high editorial standards for regular submissions to Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. We invite those interested in a possible submission to contact the guest editors.

Submission Guidelines
Review the guidelines and submission process for Special Issue proposals here. 

Questions?
Please contact the Guest Editors listed above.