Media Contact: Dolores Davies, (619) 534-5994, ddavies@ucsd.edu

Harold Pashler, a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, San Diego, has been selected to receive the prestigious Troland Research Award from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The award will be presented April 26 during the academy’s 136^th annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

Pashler is one of 17 recipients to be honored for major contributions to science. He was chosen "for his many experimental breakthroughs in the study of spatial attention and central executive control and for his insightful theoretical analysis of human cognitive architecture."

Pashler will receive $35,000 to support his research within the broad spectrum of experimental psychology. A major focus of Pashler’s research has been on the types of perceptual and cognitive tasks people can and cannot perform at the same time. "The results have broad implications about brain function and practical relevance to preventing human error in aviation," Pashler said. He also has explored factors that affect the efficiency of learning over very fine time scales.

Pashler is a magna cum laude graduate of Brown University with a bachelor of arts degree in logic and the philosophy of science and a bachelor of science degree in psychology. He received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.

The Troland Research Awards were established by the bequest of Leonard T. Troland and have been presented to support research in experimental psychology since 1984.