Lisa Feigenson of Johns Hopkins was one of four researchers honored on Jan. 23 by the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their extraordinary scientific achievements in neuroscience and psychological and cognitive sciences.
Image caption: Lisa Feigenson
Feigenson, an associate professor in the Krieger School's Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, explores the fundamental processes of human cognition and memory by testing the limits on what infants and children are able to understand about numbers and the processes that underlie that understanding.
She was one of two recipients of a $75,000 Troland Research Award, given annually to recognize unusual achievement by young investigators and to further empirical research within the broad spectrum of experimental psychology.
Feigenson was recognized for "her meticulous investigations of the origins and early development of representations of objects and numbers," NAS wrote in its announcement. "Her research on cognition in infancy illuminates the foundations of young children's mathematical reasoning and learning."
The other $75,000 Troland Research Award recipient was Yael Niv, of Princeton University. Catherine G. Dulac, of Harvard University, received the $50,000 Pradel Research Award, and Scott D. Sagan, of Stanford University, received the $20,000 William and Katherine Estes Award.
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit institution that was established under a congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. It recognizes achievement in science by election to membership, and—with the National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council—provides science, engineering, and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations.
