Two psychologists receive prestigious awards

Psychology professors Richard Davidson and Morton Ann Gernsbacher have received prestigious awards recognizing their contributions to the field.

Davidson, who is also a professor of psychiatry and the director of the W.M. Keck Laboratory for Functional Brain Imaging and Behavior at the Waisman Center, has received the 2003 Distinguished Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. The award, which provides $100,000 in support of his research, acknowledges Davidson’s work in the area of autism.

The funding will help support one of Davidson’s latest studies. In it, the psychologist, who came to UW–Madison in 1987, will use brain-imaging techniques to measure the activity of the amygdala — a small, almond-shaped structure in the brain that may play a role in emotional responses common to some people with autism. The findings could provide important insights into aspects of autism, such as gaze aversion, social withdrawal and shyness.

Gernsbacher, who joined the faculty in 1992, has been named a member of the Society of Experimental Psychologists, an elite group of 200 members who represent the top 5 to 10 percent of practicing experimental psychologists in neuroscience and cognitive, perceptual, behavioral, developmental or social psychology. She is one of nine members elected this year.

The author of more than 75 articles and book chapters, Gernsbacher investigates the cognitive processes and mechanisms that underlie language comprehension. She has challenged the view that language processing involves language-specific mechanisms by proposing that, instead, it draws on general cognitive processes. Her work has made her a central figure in the field of psycholinguistics and cognitive psychology.

A former high school teacher, Gernsbacher is the recipient of numerous teaching awards and an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Psychological Society and the American Psychological Association.