Have you ever wanted to look inside the eyes and mind of a dog to know exactly what they are thinking and why they react as they do when we interact with them? Enter Dr. Alexandria Horowitz, the featured speaker at the 13th annual Fechner Day lecture, held October 24th. Dr. Horowitz’s very interesting lecture, entitled: “Examining Others’ Points of View”, - as reviewed in an October 30th UMSL Daily article by Ryan Heinz (available at: http://blogs.umsl.edu/news/2014/10/30/fechner/) - evaluated the assumptions we make that animals have a human understanding, how they “see” using more than their eyes, while using many interesting examples to help explain the basis behind many of the behaviors of dogs.
Dr. Horowitz was well qualified to speak on a topic she feels very passionate about. She received her M.S. and PhD in Cognitive Science at the University of California, and is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor at Barnard College in New York City. She is a New York Times’ Best Selling author, penning a large number of books including such titles as “Inside of a Dog” which spent 63 weeks as a New York Times bestseller. Her latest book, “Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes” was published in January, 2013.
Fechner Day is the brainchild of Director of Research and Graduate Studies Carl Bassi, PhD. As usual Dr. Bassi entertained a large audience, including optometry students, faculty, and members of the community with a history of Gustav Fechner. Over the years this program has featured many prominent psychophysicists, the exact reason why the seminar has a very appropriate title as Gustav is widely known as the founder of psychophysics. Dr. Bassi was very appreciative of how well this important annual tradition has been attended as well as the assistance he receives to make this program a success as he relates: “I am grateful to the Dean for supporting this lecture for the past 13 years and for all the help (Maria, Nick, Janice) behind the scenes in planning, advertising, and arranging travel.”
Of course, he was especially excited and proud about this year’s program. “For me Fechner Day highlights many of the positive things about the UMSL community. It brings together faculty, professional students, graduate students, and undergraduate students and shows where there are common areas of interest. It highlights the history with learning a bit about the past along with cutting edge research. Dr. Horowitz was a perfect speaker because she was able to have a talk that cut across many areas of interest and make her research accessible to a diverse audience.”