Michael Hout

The next workshop in our NSF-funded series for OPAM will be presented Oct 22nd. Dr Jeremy Strueder (of University of Navarra) will present an introduction to drift diffusion modeling. Join us on Zoom (and visit the OPAM website later for a recording). Register: uwmadison.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

We've published a new article in The Conversation. Dr Arryn Robbins (of University of Richmond) and I wrote a piece about AI, pointing out that appreciating modern AI's cognitive science roots is important for understanding how it "behaves." Check it out here: theconversation.com/ai-behaves-m...

Thanks to the generous funding support from the National Science Foundation, OPAM will again be hosting a "Lunch with an Expert" event. Applications are open until October 31st, and you can apply here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

A special issue of AP&P in honor of Dr Mary Peterson has been released. Started by Sarah Shomstein, and guest edited by Brad Gibson and Laura Cacciamani, to celebrate Mary's pioneering, 3-decade-plus legacy in visual perception and her profound impact as a mentor. link.springer.com/collections/...

Over the past two years, I4R partnered with Psychological Science (@psychscience.bsky.social) on a large reproducibility project. 67 independent teams reproduced 64 articles published in 2024–2025, about 44% of eligible papers. Paper: www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10... Here's what we learned 🧵

NMSU Psychology is hiring. Please consider applying and/or sharing. careers.nmsu.edu/jobs/assista...

At the upcoming Psychonomic Society meeting I'll be joining colleagues from the Publications Committee and associated journals of the society to discuss "AI in the Publication Lifecycle." If you're coming to the conference this year, please stop by the special event on November 20th at noon.

Our next OPAM workshop is August 13. Michael Paavola (University of Iowa) will be presenting on how to use virtual reality in your research. As always, presentations will be on Zoom, and will be shared on our website thereafter. Learn more and register here: www.opamconference.com/workshops-su...

NMSU News has run a story (being picked up by various other outlets) on our work with the Child Safety Network; new initiatives to study school bus safety, and the reasons that drives pass stop-arms illegally. KTSM Coverage: www.ktsm.com/local/el-pas...

We are hiring in the College of HEST. We're looking for a new Academic Department Head to lead our excellent Department of Kinesiology. Please consider applying, and share in your networks and with folks you know that might be interested. careers.nmsu.edu/jobs/academi...

Back in May, I was invited to come down to UTEP to give an interview for Science Studio. Dr Keith Pannell and I chatted about scientific influences, cognition, the brain (and more) ahead of my Science on Screen lecture. The interview has now been released: www.ktep.org/show/science...

Our latest paper is out in Psychological Research. It is on how the processing of threatening content can lead to learned associations that give rise to anticipatory attentional avoidance. The paper was led by Dr Botond Kiss at University of Pecs. Read it here: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Gio Del Sordo has a new paper out in BRM, focusing on data sharing practices in the visual cognition literature (with particular emphasis on data column naming conventions and their impact on reproducibility). Read it here: link.springer.com/epdf/10.3758...

We have a new paper out in AP&P led by Dr Haden Dewis. It presents data that suggests some portion of the well-documented prevalence effects may occur because of mind-wandering during periods in which targets are infrequently encountered. Read it here: link.springer.com/article/10.3...

We’re looking for an additional Associate Editor at AP&P, particularly in the field of auditory perception/attention. If you’re interested, please check out this flyer and please share this post so that this may find its way to others!

I recently spoke with School Transportation News. We discuss issues of school bus safety, stop-arm violations, visual attention, technology, and what we should be doing to stop kids from being injured (or worse) as a result of illegal stop-arm passing behavior. stnonline.com/multimedia/s...

Our next free OPAM workshop will be presented by Dr Zitong Lu, from the McGovern Institute for Brain Research (at MIT). Please join us for a great workshop on EEG analysis in Python. You can register here: www.opamconference.com/workshops-su...

The OPAM Team is excited to announce Dr. Geoffrey Woodman as the OPAM 2026 Keynote Speaker! Dr. Woodman is the E. Bronson Ingram Chair of Neuroscience and Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University, where he leads the Woodman Brain Lab. Join us for his keynote!

OPAM34 is now accepting abstract submissions! The conference embraces a diversity of approaches, including psychophysics, eye-tracking, and neuroimaging. OPAM occurs immediately before the Psychonomic Society meeting and at the same venue. Learn more here: www.opamconference.com/opam2026

Gio Del Sordo has a new paper out in CABN. It extends her dissertation work in using pupillometry to support the argument that sustained attention comprises two distinct yet complementary modes of engagement. Read it here: link.springer.com/epdf/10.3758...

On 5/26, I'll be trying something new (to me) in the world of Sci-Comm. At the Fountain Theatre, I'll present a short public lecture following a screening of the movie "Oliver Sacks: His Own Life." mesillavalleyfilm.org/science-on-s...

Dr Giovanna Del Sordo has led another kid-friendly science communication article in Frontiers for Young Minds. This one is on using pupillometric methods to index individual differences in mental imagery. Check it out, here: kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10....

Upcoming Vision Sciences Society presentations: Gio Del Sordo will lead our poster on an AI-Human similarity database for medical image perception. And Eben Daggett will lead the poster on our work on contexts effects in AI-Human representational alignment. Both also include Jon Art from our lab.

Congrats to Ashley Mathis on the successful completion of her comprehensive exams this week! Ashley now moves on to her dissertation. Way to go, Ashley!

Collin Scarince and I have a new paper out in QJEP. This is an impressive feat by Collin to modify the Guided Search model with a multidimensional scaling "plug in" that helps extend computational capacity to capture performance with featurally complex stimuli. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

The OPAM training workshop series is back, starting with Dr Sarah Merrill (from UMass Lowell) who will be presenting on how to write competitive NSF GRFP/Fellowship applications. Workshops happen live (uiowa.zoom.us/j/94840104986) and are recorded and posted to our website thereafter. Join us!

The Discovery Scholars Program is back in NMSU News with a feature story describing the impact is has by broadening access to research opportunities for undergraduates in the College of HEST and College of Arts & Sciences. Read the story here: newsroom.nmsu.edu/news/discove...

It's not every day that you give your first research poster and the President of your University shows up. Yesterday, Michelle Kass (undergraduate Discovery Scholar mentored by Dr Gio Del Sordo and myself) presented her work at URCAS 2026 and got a visit from President Ferme. Nice work, Michelle!

This week, Mr Jon Art (an under Discovery Scholar in our lab) travelled to the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association meeting. There, he was met by Dr Eben Daggett (and a special guest!). Jon presented on his project focusing on the impacts of similarity and timing on the attentional blink.

We recently published an article in The Conversation. (Led by Arryn Robbins and co-authored by Eben Daggett and myself.) The article is about how AI learns to see and categorize, and the important ways (and implications of) that that is different from humans. theconversation.com/ai-doesnt-se...

EIN Presswire has posted a story (being picked up elsewhere) about my appointment to the Advisory Board for the Child Safety Network, and my role as Chief Scientific Investigator on their work to combat school bus stop-arm runners. Read it here: www.einpresswire.com/article/8973...

Dr Eben Daggett and I have a book chapter coming out very soon. It's on modeling similarity using MDS, and it can be found in the upcoming 2nd edition of the Encyclopedia of Measurement in Social Sciences.

We have a new young-audience science communication out in Frontiers for Young Minds. This one was led by Virginia Millsap and co-written by Dr Andras Zsido (of University of Pecs). It describes the science of phobia development, and you can find it here: kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10....

The STEM Ed Research Institute is hiring a post-doctoral researcher to work on research, assessment, and more, in collaboration with NMSU Global, and the Institute for Applied AI and Machine Learning. Please share with interested parties and in your networks. careers.nmsu.edu/jobs/post-do...

The OPAM conference is looking for new organizers, and senior grads and postdocs are eligible. Please share and post widely! This was one of the best things I ever did for my career, and as a service, and I cannot recommend it enough. Deadline 3/1/26; questions to me or opam.info@gmail.com.

newsroom.nmsu.edu/news/nmsu-re...

This week I had the opportunity to moderate a panel discussion ("AI Everywhere: Empowering Educators and Students") at the AI & Energy conference put on by the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance. I believe a full recording is forthcoming. www.linkedin.com/posts/michae...

The newest member of our lab is Michelle Kass, an undergraduate Discovery Scholar. Her project will involve examining memory performance as a function of congruent or mismatched feedback. She is already a research assistant in the lab, but welcome to DSP, Michelle!

The Psychonomic Society has posted about our paper out in BRM, focused on evaluating (and making recommendations for) open data sharing practices in the cognition literature (using visual search and eye movements as a bit of a case study). Link: featuredcontent.psychonomic.org/sharing-cari...

The procedures for what, where, and how to share materials can be wildly inconsistent. A BRM paper by @haywardgodwin.bsky.social @michaelhout.bsky.social et al. introduces the Find It, Access It, Reuse It scorecard to help standardize research sharing practices. Post by Lai

Just received the Primarius Academicus Socius recognition in from the University of Pécs (Hungary). Given for “outstanding collaborative scientific achievements,” by researchers “who attained international research excellence by reaching a scientific impact in the global top 10%.”

Graduation, Fall 2025 post (3 of 3): Last but most definitely not least, congrats to Dr Eben Daggett for the completion of his PhD. He is pictured here being hooded, as captured by the livestream. Thanks for always making me feel dumb in person (while looking smart in our published works), Eben.

Graduation, Fall 2025 post (2of 3): Congratulations to Dr. Bryan White, Ph.D. for receiving his PhD last night. He is pictured here, in classic Bryan style, with a laugh as wide as he is tall. Congrats, Bryan!

Graduation, Fall 2025 post (1 of 3): Congratulations to Ashley Mathis for not only receiving her master's degree this fall, but doing so with a perfect 4.0 GPA. She is pictured here at her Honor's cord ceremony. Well done, Ashley! Now get to work on that PhD.

Our upcoming (NSF-funded) OPAM workshop will feature Dr Johnny van Doorn (of University of Amsterdam) presenting on the theory and practice of Bayesian statistics (using JASP software). Please register and join us for the workshop (on January 26th), here: www.opamconference.com/online-works...

We have a new publication out in Behavior Research Methods; a large database of threatening images (and similar but nonthreatening ones) rated for similarity. It should be of use to visual attention/memory researchers, those studying fear/phobias, and more. Find it here: doi.org/10.3758/s134...

We are hiring for the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs position in the College of HEST. Please consider applying and/or sharing this post. Reach out if you have questions about working in the Dean's office as well! careers.nmsu.edu/jobs/associa...

The next installment of our NSF-funded OPAM workshop series will feature Dr Jason Tsukahara (of the University of Miami) presenting his workshop on researching individual differences (on December 9th). Visit the website (opamconference.com) to register for the free Zoom session.

UMass Lowell Psychology is currently hiring. Check out the job ad, and consider joining Megan Papesh in her home department. careers.pageuppeople.com/822/lowell/e...

I'm proud to announce that I'm taking over as Interim Director of the NMSU STEM+ Education Research Institute. My role here will be to support SERI’s mission to advance evidence-based STEM education, expand interdisciplinary collaboration, and strengthen STEM learning pathways across New Mexico.