Wilson S. Geisler

Wilson (Bill) Geisler is the David Wechsler Regents Chair in Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. He obtained an undergraduate degree in psychology from Stanford University in 1971 and a doctoral degree in mathematical and experimental psychology from Indiana University in 1975. He is a Fellow of Optica and the Society of Experimental Psychologists, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. In 2020, he received the Edgar D. Tillyer Award.

Geisler’s research combines behavioral studies, neurophysiological studies, studies of natural stimuli, mathematical analysis, and computational modeling. He is best known for his work on the mathematics of how to perform perceptual tasks optimally (“ideal observer theory”), on the relationship between the statistical properties of natural stimuli and visual performance, on the nature of eye movements in natural tasks, and on the relationship between visual performance and the neurophysiology of the visual system.