Jack Loomis

Research Professor

Contacts

Department of Psychology
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106

tel: (805) 893-2475
fax: (805) 893-4303
loomis@psych.ucsb.edu

Personal web site

Research Description

Loomis' current research is concerned with the perceptual and cognitive processes underlying complex behavior. The basic research problems he is working on include visual space perception, visual control of locomotion, navigation with and without vision, and spatial cognition. Much of his work involves virtual environment technology, a tool that greatly expands the possibilities for experimental research. On the applied side, he has been director of a project developing a navigation aid for blind people that uses these technologies: GPS, geographic information systems (GIS), and virtual sound.

Biography

Loomis' PhD thesis was in color vision. He then did a three year postdoc at Smith-Kettlewell Institute of Visual Sciences in San Francisco where he did theoretical research on optic flow with Ken Nakayama and experimental research on tactile perception using the Tactile Vision Substitution System developed by Paul Bach-y-Rita and Carter Collins. Since 1974 Dr.Loomis has been a professor in the Psychology Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara where he has conducted influential research on a broad range of topics including color vision, tactual perception, visual space perception, auditory space perception, spatial cognition, and social interaction. In 1985 he came up with the idea of a navigation system for blind people and directed a program of research and development on this for over 20 years (done in collaboration with R. Golledge and R. Klatzky). In addition, he and his former student, Andrew Beall, developed virtual reality as a basic research tool and, together with Jim Blascovich, promoted its use at UCSB. He is author of over 140 publications and has been the Principal Investigator on 13 multiyear grants from NSF, NIH, ONR, and AFOSR. He retired from active teaching in 2009 and continues his research as a Research Professor. He also was an instrument rated private pilot for many years and conducted research on the visual control of flight. He maintains an interest in improving flight safety.

Selected Publications

• Visual control of action without retinal optic flow, Psychological Science, 17, 2006, 214-221, Loomis, J. M., Beall, A.C., Macuga, K. L., Kelly, J. W., and Smith, R. S.
• Inertial cues do not enhance knowledge of environmental layout, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, In Press, 2003, 987-993, Waller, D., Loomis, J. M., & Steck, S. D.
• Dissociation of location and shape in visual space, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 28, 2002, 1202-1212, Loomis, J. M., Philbeck, J. W., & Zahorik, P.
• Spatial updating of locations specified by 3-D sound and spatial language, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 28, 2002, 335-345, Loomis, J. M., Lippa, Y., Klatzky, R. L., & Golledge, R. G.
• GPS-based navigation systems for the visually impaired, Fundamentals of Wearable Computers and Augmented Reality, 2001, 429-446, Loomis, J. M., Golledge, R. G., & Klatzky, R. L.
• Assessing auditory distance perception using perceptually directed action, Perception & Psychophysics, 60, 1998, 966-980, Loomis, J. M., Klatzky, R. L., Philbeck, J. W., & Golledge, R. G.
• Visually-controlled locomotion: Its dependence on optic flow, 3-D space perception, and cognition, Ecological Psychology, 10, 1998, 271-285, Loomis, J. M. & Beall, A. C.
• Distal attribution and presence, Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 1, 1992, 113-119, Loomis, J. M.
• Visual space perception and visually directed action, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 18, 1992, 906-921, Loomis, J. M., Da Silva, J.A., Fujita, N., & Fukusima, S. S.
• A model of character recognition and legibility, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 16, 1990, 106-120, Loomis, J. M.