EDWARD A. VESSEL, Ph.D.

Full Research Scientist Office: (212) 998-8217 Center for Brain Imaging Cell: (917) 445-6649 New York University Email: [email protected] 4 Washington Pl., Rm. 156 New York, NY 10003 Last updated: September 30, 2014

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2014 - Full Research Scientist Center for Brain Imaging, New York University, New York, NY. Consult with NYU labs on the design, data collection and analysis of fMRI imaging experiments. Teach workshops on analysis techniques and software. Quantify signal characteristics of new imaging methods. Includes time for independent research. 2010 - Co-Director, NYU ArtLab. 2009 - 2014 Assistant Research Scientist Center for Brain Imaging, New York University, New York, NY. 2011 Adjunct Professor Dept. of Psychology, New York University. 2008 - 2009 Research Consultant Nava Rubin, Center for Neural Science, New York University. Denis Pelli, Dept. of Psychology, New York University. 2007 – 2008 Adjunct Lecturer Dept. of Psychology, New York University. Dept. of English, New York University. 2004 - 2007 Postdoctoral Research Fellow Center for Neural Science, New York University. Advisor: Nava Rubin

EDUCATION

2004 Ph.D., The University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA Behavioral and Neural Investigations of Perceptual Affect Irving Biederman (chair), Richard Thompson, Zhonglin Lu, Bartlett Mel, and Mitchell Earleywine. 1997 B.A. (Hons.), Cognitive Science The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

HONORS AND AWARDS

2013 Panelist, World Science Festival. 2003 - 2006 Postdoctoral NRSA award (NEI). 2001 - 2003 Predoctoral NRSA Traineeship: USC Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience Training Grant. 2001 Fellow at the Dartmouth Summer Institute in . 1997 Graduated Phi Beta Kappa, with General Honors, Departmental Honors, and Honors in Humanities. 1995 – 1996 Treasurer of Psi Chi, the National Honor Society in Psychology. 1993 National Merit Scholar, Robert C. Byrd Honors Scolarship, Valedictorian

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PUBLICATIONS

Vessel, E.A. (2014) Effects of reduced sensory stimulation and assessment of countermeasures for sensory stimulation augmentation. Draft Report. Houston (TX): National Aeronautics and Space Administration (US). 173 p. Contract No.: NNJ13HF11P.

Vessel, E.A., Stahl, J., Maurer, N., Denker, A., Starr. G.G. (2014) Personalized visual aesthetics. Proc. SPIE 9014, Human Vision and Electronic Imaging XIX, 90140S, 1-8. doi: 10.1117/12.2043126.

Vessel, E.A., Starr, G.G., Rubin, N. (2013) Art reaches within: aesthetic experience, the self and the default-mode network. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 7:258, doi: 10.3389/fnins.2013.00258.

Vessel, E.A., Starr, G.G., Rubin, N. (2012) The brain on art: Intense aesthetic experience activates the default mode network. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6:66, doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00066.

Vessel, E.A., & Rubin, N. (2010). Beauty and the beholder: Highly individual taste for abstract, but not real-world images. Journal of Vision, 10(2): 18, 1-14, http://journalofvision.org/10/2/18, doi:10.1167/10.2.18.

Yue, X, Vessel, E.A., & Biederman, I. (2007) The neural basis of scene preferences. NeuroReport, 16(6), 525-529.

Biederman, I. & Vessel, E.A. (2006) Perceptual pleasure and the brain. American Scientist, 94, 249-255.

INVITED TALKS 2014 Session on Neuroaesthetics, International Association of Empirical Aesthetics, New York, NY, August 2014. “Aesthetic Experience as an Integrated Brain State.” 2014 Symposium on the Default Mode Network in Aesthetics and Creativity, Columbia Italian Academy and NYU College of Arts and Sciences, New York, NY, Feb. 7. “Art Reaches Within.” 2014 Banquet Talk, Human Vision and Electronic Imaging, San Fransisco, CA, Feb. 3. “Visual Pleasure and the Neuroscience of Aesthetics.” 2014 Special Session on Cognition, Emotion and Aesthetics in Visual Experience, Human Vision and Electronic Imaging, San Fransisco, CA, Feb. 2-6. “Personalized Visual Aesthetics.” 2013 Haverford College, Haverford, PA, Dec. 4. “Art Reaches Within.” 2013 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, June 2. World Science Festival. “Sunday at the Met: Art and the Mind.” 2011 Central Booking Gallery, New York, NY, Oct. 13. “Aesthetics and the Brain.” 2011 Smart Museum of Art, Chicago, IL, April 14. “Art and Emotion: The Brain and Aesthetic Experience.” 2011 The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, March 21. David Bodian Seminar in Neuroscience, Krieger Mind/Brain Institute. “Dissecting Neuroaesthetics.” 2010 Aesthetic Science Symposium, Psychonomics, St. Louis, MO. Nov. 18-21. “Dissecting Neuroaesthetics.” 2010 Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Fairfield, CT, April 25. “Creative Conversation: Processing Vision.”

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2010 UNC Charlotte Symposium on Neuroaesthetics and , Charlotte, NC, April 22-24. “Dissecting Neuroaesthetics.” 2009 Copenhagen Neuroaesthetics Conference. U. Copenhagen, Sept. 24-26. “This is Your Brain on Art.”

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

Masucci, Michael, Corsi-Travali, Stefani, Neumeister, Alexander, Vessel, Edward A. (2014) Clinical symptomatology and reward responsiveness influence preferences for aesthetic images. Poster presented at the International Association for Empirical Aesthetics Congress in New York, NY. August 22-24.

Maurer, Natalia, Denker, Alexander, H., Starr, G. Gabrielle, Vessel, Edward A. (2014) Higher agreement of preferences for natural landscapes versus for architecture suggests that evaluations of “environmental fitness” may influence preference. Poster presented at the International Association for Empirical Aesthetics Congress in New York, NY. August 22-24.

Stahl, Jonathan, Starr, G. Gabrielle, Vessel, Edward A. (2014) Gender differences in perceptions of facial beauty. Poster presented at the International Association for Empirical Aesthetics Congress in New York, NY. August 22-24.

Isaacs, Alison N., Vessel, Edward A., Starr, G. Gabrielle (2014) The role of imagery and indeterminacy in aesthetic experiences of literature. Poster presented at the International Association for Empirical Aesthetics Congress in New York, NY. August 22-24.

Stahl, Jonathan, Starr, G. Gabrielle & Vessel, Edward A. (2014) Gender of facial stimuli affects the preferences of males, but not females. Poster presented at the Association for Psychological Science Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA. May 23.

Denker, Alexander H., Starr, G. Gabrielle & Vessel, Edward, A. (2013) Aesthetic preferences for architecture do not rely on commonly shared semantic distinctions. Poster presented at the Association for Psychological Science Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. May 23-26.

Maurer, Natalia M., Starr, G. Gabrielle & Vessel, Edward, A. (2013) Preferences for natural landscapes are better predicted by semantic topographical content than by exploratory descriptors. Poster presented at the Association for Psychological Science Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. May 23-26.

Stahl, Jonathan L., Starr, G. Gabrielle & Vessel, Edward, A. (2013) Canonical beauty: Heterosexual men express highly similar preferences for female, but not male models. Poster presented at the Association for Psychological Science Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. May 23-26.

Vessel, Edward A., Starr G. Gabrielle, Rubin N. (2012) The brain on art: intense aesthetic experience activates the default-mode network. Poster presented at the Organization for Mapping Annual Meeting in Beijing, China.

Burakowski, Lauren, Vessel, Edward, Johnson, Scott & Krogh, Lauren. (2011) Unlike adults, infants’ visual preferences are driven by lower-level visual features. Poster presented at the Vision Sciences Society Annual Meeting in Naples, FL.

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Inati, Souheil, Velasco, Pablo & Vessel, Edward A. (2011) A new method for robust functional to structural alignment using multi-echo GRE B0 and R2* mapping. Poster presented at the Organization for Human Annual Meeting in Quebec City, Canada. Vessel, Edward A., Rubin, Nava, & Starr, G. Gabrielle (2009) This is your brain on art. Poster presented at the Vision Sciences Society Annual Meeting in Naples, FL.

Vessel, Edward A. & Rubin, Nava. (2007) Preferences for novel abstract images are reflected in the activation of human reward networks. Paper presented at the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA.

Vessel, Edward A. & Rubin, Nava. (2006) Direct comparison of preferences for abstract images and real-world scenes. Poster Presented at the Vision Sciences Society conference in Sarasota, FL.

Vessel, Edward A. & Rubin, Nava. (2005) When beauty is in the eye of the beholder: individual differences dominate preferences for abstract images but not real-world scenes. Paper presented at European Conference for Visual Perception in A Coruña, Spain.

Vessel, Edward A., Biederman, Irving, & Cohen, Mark. (2004) Parahippocampal fMRI activity is modulated by scene type. Poster Presented at the Vision Sciences Society conference in Sarasota, FL.

Vessel, Edward A., Biederman, Irving, & Cohen, Mark S. (2003) How opiate activity may determine spontaneous visual selection. Paper presented at the Vision Sciences Society conference in Sarasota, FL.

Biederman, Irving, Vessel, Edward A., & Greene, Michelle R. (2003) The grouping of contours into an L-Vertex depends on contrast polarity: Evidence for the incorporation of image statistics into mechanisms of perceptual grouping. Poster presented at the Vision Sciences Society conference in Sarasota, FL.

Behizadeh, Rosemary, Vessel, Edward A., & Biederman, Irving. (2003) Verifying objects in minimal scenes. Poster presented at the Vision Sciences Society conference in Sarasota, FL.

Vessel, Edward A., Biederman, Irving, Cohen, Mark S., Albistegui-Dubois, Richard M., Glahn, David C. (2003) The neural basis of spontaneous perceptual selection. Poster presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting in New York, NY.

Biederman, Irving, Vessel, Edward A., Cohen, Mark S., Glahn, David C., & Albistequi-Dubois, Richard M. (2002) A neurocomputational theory of perceptual and cognitive pleasure. Paper presented at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society in Kansas City, MO.

Vessel, Edward A., & Biederman, Irving. (2002) An fMRI investigation of preference habituation. Poster presented at the Vision Sciences Society conference in Sarasota, FL.

Vessel, Edward A., & Biederman, Irving. (2001) Why do we prefer looking at some scenes rather than others? Paper presented at the Object Perception and Memory conference in Orlando, FL.

Vessel, Edward A., Biederman, Irving, Lee, Ka Hung, Subramaniam, Suresh. (2001) Contour grouping into L vertices depends on contrast polarity: evidence for the incorporation of image statistics into mechanisms of perceptual grouping. Poster presented at the Vision Sciences

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Society conference in Sarasota, FL.

Vessel, Edward A., & Biederman, Irving (2000) Picture Preference Habituation of Full Color Scenes. Poster for Object Perception and Memory Conference in New Orleans, LA.

Vessel, Edward A., & Biederman, Irving. (2000) Brightness judgments within minimal part-types are easier than across part types [ARVO Abstract]. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2000; 41(4):S226. Abstract nr 1183.

Vessel, Edward A., Mangini, Michael, and Biederman, Irving. (1999) Experts vs. novices performing subordinate-level RSVP identification. Poster for Object Perception and Memory Conference in Los Angeles, CA.

Vessel, Edward A., Subramaniam, Suresh, and Biederman, Irving. (1999) A change in contrast at an L-junction unbinds its segments [ARVO Abstract]. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1999;40(4):S810. Abstract nr 4267.

Vessel, Edward A., Subramaniam, Suresh, and Biederman, Irving. (1998) When does variation in contrast polarity affect contour grouping in object recognition? Poster for Object Perception and Memory conference in Dallas, TX.

Fine, E.M., Vessel, E.A., & Rubin, G.S. (1997). Reading with half a visual field. Vision Science and Its Applications 1997 Technical Digest Series Vol. 1, (pp. 212- 215). Optical Society of America: Washington, DC.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

2010 - MRI lab: Lab in Neural Science II, core Graduate course, Center for Neural Science, NYU. 2010 - MRI and fMRI labs: Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience, core Graduate course, Psychology Department, NYU. 2009 - CBI Technique and Analysis Workshops: Intro fMRI, Diffusion Imaging, Multi- Voxel Pattern Analysis, Functional Connectivity, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. 2008 - MRI and fMRI labs: Behavioral Integrative Neuroscience, core Undergraduate course, Center for Neural Science, NYU. 2011, 2013 Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Lab, Graduate course in Dept. of Psychology, NYU, with David Heeger & Pablo Velasco. 2011 Experiments in Beauty, Undergraduate advanced seminar course, Dept. of Psychology, NYU. 2007 Neural Aesthetics, Graduate course in Depts. of Psychology & English, NYU, with Gabrielle Starr. 2007 Cognitive Psychology, undergraduate course, Psychology Department, NYU. 2007 Perception, core undergraduate course, Psychology Department, NYU, with Denis Pelli. 2006 - 2007 Guest Lecturer on preference, aesthetics and functional imaging for undergraduate and graduate courses in Depts. of Psychology, Center for Neural Science, and School of Continuing Education, NYU. 2000 Teaching Assistant: Topics in Neuroscience, Dept. of Biology, USC. 1998 Teaching Assistant: Introductory Biology, Dept. of Biology, USC.

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MENTORING

2014 - Isaac Purton: NYU Psychology Masters Thesis 2014 - Eda Aksoy: NYU Psychology Masters Thesis 2014 - Michael Masucci: NYU Psychology Masters Thesis 2013 - 2014 Natalia Maurer. NYU Psychology Masters Thesis 2013 - 2014 Alison Isaacs: Undergraduate Honors Thesis 2013 Claire Mitchell: NYU Interactive Technology Program Masters 2012 Tyra Lindstrom. Undergraduate Research Methods 2012 Jonathan Stahl, NYU Gallatin Senior Colloquium 2011 Frank Camps-Febrer. Masters in Neuroscience, City University of New York – College of Staten Island 2009 Justin Kung, NYU Deans Undergraduate Research Fund 2009 Gabrielle Gutierrez, NYU Summer Undergraduate Research Program

REVIEWER SERVICE

Cognition & Emotion, Cognitive Neuroscience, Emotion, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, Frontiers in Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Vision, Neuropsychologia, Perception, PLoS ONE, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Scientific Reports, Social Cognitive and , IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics & Security

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

2013 - International Association of Empirical Aesthetics 2013 - Association for Psychological Science 2010 - Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) 2003, 2010 - Cognitive Neuroscience Society 2001-‘06, ‘09 Vision Sciences Society 1998-‘03, ‘08 Society for Neuroscience

RESEARCH GRANTS AND CONTRACTS

Current Support NNJ13HF11P (PI) 10/13 – 01/15 NASA Contract $23,010 Sensory stimulation augmentation tools for long duration exploration spaceflight

The goal of this project is to perform a literature review and operational assessment of sensory stimulation augmentation techniques for long-duration space flight. Recommendations from this work will be used to determine future research priorities by the Behavioral Health and Performance (BHP) Element of NASA’s Human Research Program.

Gobal Institute for Advanced Studies (Co-Investigator, PI Gabrielle Starr) 0% 5/14 – 8/16 New York University $600,000 Beauty and Beyond Research Institute

The goal of this project is to initiate a coordinated, programmatic effort to move forward an understanding of the neuroscience of aesthetics through collaboration with a select group of , philosophers, and scholars of the arts from around the world.

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Past Support University Research Challenge Fund (Co-Investigator, PI Gabrielle Starr) 06/11 – 08/14 New York University $18,000 Mapping the aesthetic brain: the neural topography of domain-general visual aesthetics

The goal of this project was to test the hypothesis that aesthetic judgments for objects of different categories (faces, landscapes, art) rely on a common, domain-general neural mechanism.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

2014 Organizer for the Symposium on the Default Mode Network in Aesthetics and Creativity, Columbia Italian Academy and NYU College of Arts and Sciences, New York, NY, Feb. 7. 2009 - Organize seminar series for the NYU Center for Brain Imaging

RECENT COLLABORATORS

Poeppel, David (Psychology, NYU) Suzuki, Wendy (Center for Neural Science, NYU) Pelli, Denis (Psychology, NYU) Halpern, Andrea (Psychology, Bucknell) Berlin, Heather (, Mt. Sinai Hospital) Neumeister, Alexander (Psychiatry, NYU Langone Medical Center) Starr, G. Gabrielle (English, NYU) Rubin, Nava (Center for Neural Science, NYU) Johnson, Scott (Psychology, UCLA) Phelps, Elizabeth (Psychology, NYU) Kubota, Jennifer (Psychology, NYU) Biederman, Irving (Neuroscience/Psychology, USC) Inati, Souheil (Section on Functional Imaging Methods, NIH) Freeman, Jeremy (Psychology, NYU) Velasco, Pablo (Center for Brain Imaging, NYU) Meineck, Peter (Classics, NYU)

REFERENCES

Nava Rubin, PhD Associate Professor of Neural Science and Psychology Center for Neural Science, New York University 4 Washington Pl., Rm. 809 New York, NY 10003 (212) 998-3934 [email protected]

Anjan Chatterjee, M.D. Elliott Professor of School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania 3 West Gates 3400 Spruce Street Philadelphia, PA 19104 [email protected]

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Irving Biederman, PhD Harold W. Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience University of Southern California Hedco Neuroscience Building Los Angeles, CA 90089-2520 (213) 740-6094 [email protected]

Elizabeth A. Phelps, PhD Silver Professor of Psychology and Neural Science Department of Psychology, New York University 6 Washington Pl. New York, NY 10003 (212) 998-8337 [email protected]

Michael E. Goldberg, MD David Mahoney Professor of Brain and Behavior Depts. of Neuroscience, Neurology, Psychiatry, Opthalmology Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons 1051 Riverside Drive, Unit 87 New York, NY 10032 (212) 543-6931 ext. 101 [email protected]

G. Gabrielle Starr, PhD Seryl Kushner Dean of the College of Arts and Science Professor of English, New York University 100 Washington Sq. E., 9th Floor New York, NY 10003 (212) 998-8100 [email protected]

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