Faculty

Profile

Ben van Buren is interested in the perception of higher-level visual properties — what causes objects to look more or less alive, emotionally expressive, or aesthetically pleasing?  His research is aimed at connecting these visual features with aspects of our mental lives that are better understood by psychologists, such as attention, perceptual organization, and memory.  Ben's recent projects have focused on the perception of intentionality from motion cues, event perception, and the psychology of aesthetics.  He has also written about what visual illusions tell us about our mental architecture, and about meta-psychological questions, such as how to best study perceptual states.

Ben directs the NSSR Perception Laboratory.  For the latest information on lab news and projects, please visit: http://www.nssrperception.com/

Degrees Held

Ph.D., Cognitive Psychology (Yale University)

B.A., Philosophy, Cognitive Science (University of Pennsylvania)

Recent Publications

Colombatto, C., van Buren, B., and Scholl, B. J. (2021). Hidden intentions: Visual awareness prioritizes directed attention even without eyes or faces. Cognition, 217, 1-7. PDF

Ritchie, J. B., and van Buren, B. (2020). When scenes look like Materials: The reversable figure-ground motif in the paintings of René Magritte. Art and Perception, 8, 1-12. PDF

van Buren, B., and Scholl, B. J. (2018). Visual illusions as a tool for dissociating seeing from thinking. Perception, 47, 999-1001. PDF

van Buren, B., and Scholl, B. J. (2017). Minds in motion in memory: Enhanced spatial memory driven by the perceived animacy of simple shapes. Cognition, 163, 87-92. PDF | Demos

van Buren, B., Bromberger, B., Potts, D., and Chatterjee, A. (2013). Changes in painting styles of two artists with Alzheimer's disease. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 7, 89-94. PDF

Research Interests

perception, cognition, animacy, event perception, gestalt psychology, aesthetics, visual science of art