Lawrence
M. Ward (b. Dec 11, 1944 in Canton, Ohio, USA) received
his AB degree from Harvard University cum laude
in 1966 and his PhD degree (Phi Beta Kappa) in Experimental
Psychology from Duke University in 1971. He began
his career in 1970 as an Assistant Professor at
Rutgers University. In 1974 he moved to the University
of British Columbia (Canada) as Assistant Professor
in the Department of Psychology. He was promoted
to Associate Professor in 1977 and then to Full
Professor in 1988, his current position. He is also
a member of the Brain Research Centre and the Programme
in Neuroscience, both at UBC.
Dr. Ward was elected
a Fellow of Division 3 of the American Psychological
Association in 1988 and a Fellow of the Association
for Psychological Science in 1990. He was also a
Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the Peter
Wall Institute for Advanced Studies (2005). Dr.
Ward was a founding member of, and has occupied
several Executive positions in, the International
Society for Psychophysics, including serving as
its President in 2005-2006 and currently as permanent
advisor to the Executive. He is also a member of
the Board of Consulting Editors for the research
journal Attention, Perception & Psychophysics.
Dr. Ward studies behavioral, electrophysiological,
and neuromagnetic indices of human perception and
cognition. His lab investigates a wide variety of
visual, auditory and higher cognitive processes
using event related potentials, neural phase synchronization
measures, psychophysical scaling, mathematical modeling,
and the localization of electrical and magnetic
activity underlying mental activity. Specifically,
he is currently working on projects adressing issues
in (i) the cognitive neuroscience of attention and
consciousness with special emphasis on EEG and MEG
studies of neuronal synchronization, (ii) biophysics
and psychophysics of stochastic resonance, (iii)
fundamental psychophysics, particularly psychophysical
scaling, measurement theory, and signal detection
theory, and (iv) nonlinear dynamical systems theory
and its applications in cognitive neuroscience.
Dr. Ward has published many research articles and
book chapters. He has also authored several books,
most notably Sensation and Perception (2004, Hoboken,
NJ: Wiley), which is in its 6th edition (with S.
Coren and J.T. Enns), Dynamical Cognitive Science
(2002, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press), and Orienting
of Attention (2008, New York: Oxford University
Press, with R. Wright).
