Part of Science on Screen® 2025
Tue, Apr 22 at 8:00pm: Post-screening discussion with Isabel Gauthier, David K. Wilson Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University | BUY TICKETS
Animation pioneer Karel Zeman conjures the adventures of the legendary, boastful baron, whose whirlwind exploits take him from the moon to 18th century Turkey to the belly of a whale and beyond. A kaleidoscopic marvel that blends live action with techniques including stop-motion, cutout collage, puppetry, painted backdrops and antique tinting, Zeman’s film is an exhilarating visual delight and a warmhearted whirl through a bygone age too entrancing to have existed. (Synopsis courtesy of the Criterion Collection)
Science on Screen® is an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
“Undoubtedly the most exciting experiment so far in animation and in combining different techniques ... The Méliès influence is present throughout the film, which reaches the same level of poetry as the works of that old master.” —César Santos Fontenla, Triunfo “Charming and sweethearted 1961 Czech fantasy filled with loopy special effects.” —Harlan Ellison “A film that is completely unique, as magical in the first sense of the term as Méliès' films could be 50 years earlier, with a great sense of humor and great invention.” —Le Monde “An absolute wonder to behold: decidedly out of step in its time or any other cinematic era… It’s a one-of-a-kind cinematic experience, a film more imaginative than you could dream possible.” —Ian Schultz, Psychotronic Cinema
Topic: Are We Experiencing the Same Munchausen? The Science of Individual Visual Perception
Presentation: Following Karel Zeman’s visually inventive film, this talk will discuss how much people differ in their ability to recognize and process visual information. Research reveals these differences stem from a domain-general object recognition ability that varies across individuals and is independent from general intelligence—and contrary to expectations, experience with visual arts does not enhance this ability.
Speaker: Isabel Gauthier, David K. Wilson Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University
About the Speaker:
Dr. Isabel Gauthier (B.A. Université du Québec à Montréal, PhD. Yale University) is the David K.
Wilson Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University and also holds an appointment in
Radiology and Radiological Sciences.
Dr. Gauthier studies object recognition from a cognitive neuroscience perspective. In some of her
early work, Dr. Gauthier showed that naïve observers trained to recognize artificial objects called
‘Greebles’ showed activation for these objects in the part of the brain known to be engaged by
face recognition. This showed that perceptual expertise with objects, rather than face recognition
per se, is responsible for recruiting this part of the brain. Dr. Gauthier's research expanded in
recent years to investigate the existence of a domain-general visual ability. This ability is distinct
from general intelligence and predicts how well people can learn to identify objects like birds,
read musical notation or make medical diagnostic decisions.
Dr. Gauthier has been the recipient of the Young Investigator Award, Cognitive Neuroscience
Society, the APA Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology and
the Troland research award from the National Academy of Sciences, the Mid-career award from
the Psychonomic Society, the Davida Teller Award from the Vision Sciences Society and two
different graduate mentoring awards from Vanderbilt. She was the SEC professor of the year in
2015.
