last modified 10/3/2005
CURRICULUM VITAE :
John Kevin O'Regan
John Kevin O'Regan, born 24 May, 1948. American citizen. Permanently
resident in Paris, France since 1971. Divorced, two children.
Languages: English, French, German.
Brief Summary:
After studying theoretical physics at Sussex and Cambridge Universites, Kevin
O'Regan moved to Paris in 1975 to work in experimental psychology at the Centre
National de Recherche Scientifique. Following his Ph. D. on eye movements in
reading he showed the existence of an optimal positioin for the eye to fixate
in words. His interest in the problem of the perceied stability of the visual
world led him to question established notions of the nature of visual
perception, and to discover, with collaborators, the phenomenon of "change
blindness". His current work involves exploring the empirical consequences
of a new "sensorimotor" approach to vision and sensation in general.
He is particularly interested in the problem of the nature of phenomenal
consciousness, which he addresses experimentally in relation to sensory
substitution, and theoretically in relation to color perception. He is
interested in applying this work to robotics. Kevin O'Regan is currently
director of the Laboratoire de Psychologie Expérimentale, CNRS, Université
Paris 5.
Academic Career:
1968: BSc in Mathematical Physics, Sussex University, England.
1968-71: Research towards PhD with B.D. Josephson (Nobel Prize) in solid
state physics at Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, England.
1972: Changed subject of PhD to eye movements in reading. Director Jacques
Mehler, Paris. Entered Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) as
"Stagiaire de Recherche".
1973: Attaché de Recherche, CNRS
1975: PhD from Cambridge ("Constraints on Eye Movements in Reading").
1979: Chargé de Recherche, CNRS
1981: Left laboratory of Jacques Mehler and moved to Groupe Regard (also
part of CNRS), to work with Ariane Lévy-Schoen.
1986: Directeur de Recherche II, CNRS
1991-98: Director of "Relais d'Information sur les Sciences Cognitives",
CNRS, Paris.
2001: Directeur de Recherche I, CNRS
2002: Director of Laboratoire de Psychologie Expérimentale
Visits in different laboratories:
1975-1976: 1 yr post-doc: LNR group, Psychology Dept, UCSD, USA (Donald
Norman).
1978: consultant at Institute for Perception Research (Phillips, Eindhoven,
Holland) for work with H. Bouma and D. Bouhuis.
1978: 4 month visit to Center for Human Information Processing, UCSD, USA
for work with J. McClelland.
1981: 4 month visit as consultant to Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, N.J.,
USA for work with J. Johnston (S. Sternberg's group).
1988: 3 month visit to Psychology Department, University of Melbourne (V.
Holmes).
1989-92: regular 2-week visits as consultant to Institut for Perception
Research, Eindhoven.
1994-97: regular 1-month visits as visiting scientist at Nissan Cambridge
Basic Research, Cambridge, Mass.
1995-99: regular 1-month visits as visiting scientist at Max Planck Institut
für Psychologische Forschung, Munich.