Roger Shepard
Encyclopedia
Roger Newland Shepard is a cognitive scientist
and author of Toward a Universal Law of Generalization for Psychological Science. He is seen as a father of research on spatial relations.
Shepard obtained his Ph.D. in psychology at Yale University
in 1955 under Carl Hovland
, and completed post-doctoral training with George Armitage Miller at Harvard. Subsequent to this, Shepard was at Bell Labs
and then a professor at Harvard before joining the faculty at Stanford University. In 1995, Shepard received the National Medal of Science
for his contributions in the field of cognitive science. In 2006, he also won the Rumelhart Prize
. Shepard is Ray Lyman Wilbur
Professor Emeritus of Social Science
at Stanford University
.
His students include Lynn Cooper, Leda Cosmides
, Rob Fish, Jennifer Freyd
, Carol Krumhansl, Daniel Levitin
, Geoffrey Miller
and Josh Tenenbaum.
Cognitive science
Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary scientific study of mind and its processes. It examines what cognition is, what it does and how it works. It includes research on how information is processed , represented, and transformed in behaviour, nervous system or machine...
and author of Toward a Universal Law of Generalization for Psychological Science. He is seen as a father of research on spatial relations.
Shepard obtained his Ph.D. in psychology at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1955 under Carl Hovland
Carl Hovland
Carl Iver Hovland was a psychologist working primarily at Yale University and the US Army during World War II who studied attitude change and persuasion....
, and completed post-doctoral training with George Armitage Miller at Harvard. Subsequent to this, Shepard was at Bell Labs
Bell Labs
Bell Laboratories is the research and development subsidiary of the French-owned Alcatel-Lucent and previously of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company , half-owned through its Western Electric manufacturing subsidiary.Bell Laboratories operates its...
and then a professor at Harvard before joining the faculty at Stanford University. In 1995, Shepard received the National Medal of Science
National Medal of Science
The National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social sciences, biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and...
for his contributions in the field of cognitive science. In 2006, he also won the Rumelhart Prize
Rumelhart Prize
The David E. Rumelhart Prize for Contributions to the Theoretical Foundations of Human Cognition was founded in 2001 in honor of the celebrated cognitive scientist David Rumelhart. The annual award is presented at the Cognitive Science Society meeting, where the recipient gives a lecture and...
. Shepard is Ray Lyman Wilbur
Ray Lyman Wilbur
Ray Lyman Wilbur was an American medical doctor who served as the third president of Stanford University and the 31st United States Secretary of the Interior.-Early life:...
Professor Emeritus of Social Science
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
.
His students include Lynn Cooper, Leda Cosmides
Leda Cosmides
Leda Cosmides, is an American psychologist, who, together with anthropologist husband John Tooby, helped develop the field of evolutionary psychology....
, Rob Fish, Jennifer Freyd
Jennifer Freyd
Jennifer J. Freyd is an American psychologist, Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon, and editor of the Journal of Trauma & Dissociation...
, Carol Krumhansl, Daniel Levitin
Daniel Levitin
Professor Daniel J. Levitin, Ph.D. is a prominent American cognitive psychologist, neuroscientist, record producer, musician, and writer...
, Geoffrey Miller
Geoffrey Miller (evolutionary psychologist)
Geoffrey F. Miller , Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of New Mexico, is an American evolutionary psychologist.Miller is a 1987 graduate of Columbia University, where he earned a B.A. in biology and psychology. He received his PhD in cognitive psychology from Stanford University...
and Josh Tenenbaum.
See also
- Barber's poleBarber's poleA barber's pole is a type of sign used by barbers to signify the place or shop where they perform their craft. The trade sign is, by a tradition dating back to the Middle Ages, a staff or pole with a helix of colored stripes...
- Center for Evolutionary PsychologyCenter for Evolutionary PsychologyCenter for Evolutionary Psychology is a research center co-founded and co-directed by John Tooby and Leda Cosmides and is affiliated with the University of California, Santa Barbara....
- DeutschDiana DeutschDiana Deutsch is a British-American perceptual and cognitive psychologist, born in London, England. She is currently Professor of Psychology at the University of California, San Diego, and is one of the most prominent researchers on the psychology of music...
tritone paradoxTritone paradoxThe tritone paradox is an auditory illusion in which a sequentially played pair of Shepard tones separated by an interval of a tritone, or half octave, is heard as ascending by some people and as descending by others. Different populations tend to favor one of a limited set of different spots... - Mental rotationMental rotationMental rotation is the ability to rotate mental representations of two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects.-Introduction:Mental rotation is somewhat localized to the right cerebral hemisphere. It is thought to take place largely in the same areas as perception...
- Mental imageMental imageA mental image is an experience that, on most occasions, significantly resembles the experience of perceiving some object, event, or scene, but occurs when the relevant object, event, or scene is not actually present to the senses...
- Shepard toneShepard toneA Shepard tone, named after Roger Shepard, is a sound consisting of a superposition of sine waves separated by octaves. When played with the base pitch of the tone moving upward or downward, it is referred to as the Shepard scale. This creates the auditory illusion of a tone that continually...
- Universal law of generalizationUniversal law of generalizationThe universal law of generalization is a theory of cognition originally posited by Roger Shepard. According to it, the probability that a response to one stimulus will be generalized to another will be a function of the distance between the two stimuli...