Credit: Texas A&M University Liberal Arts
Brian Anderson, an associate professor in the Psychological & Brain Sciences Department in the College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University, is reshaping the psychology field as we know it.
“When I started out as a perception scientist, the generally accepted model of attentional control held that what we pay attention to is the joint influence of two factors,” Anderson says. “It was a theoretical model that had stood since the 1960s and came into prominence in the 1980s and 1990s; a conceptual framework that had been taken for granted for decades.”
Anderson’s groundbreaking research reconceptualizes attention as the joint influence of three different control mechanisms rather than merely two, with reward learning having a direct influence on the control of attention.
His research efforts — combined with work conducted in his lab — quickly established Anderson as a consistent leader in this area of research and made him a recipient of the 2021 American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology, a recognition only one other professor in Texas A&M history has received.
“This is a tremendous honor,” Anderson says. “The past recipients include a number of people who I have really looked up to and have drawn inspiration from over the course of my career. To be linked together with them through this award is sincerely humbling. This award is also of personal significance to me in that my late PhD advisor, Steven Yantis, received this same award in 1994; it is rewarding to feel as though I am following in my academic father’s footsteps and continuing his legacy.”
A better understanding of how reward learning influences attention will hopefully lead to new insights about how to help people more effectively cope with the psychological challenges of self-destructive habits — like drug addiction, where people often struggle to get their minds off of the drug though the person wants to quit.
“As a scientist, you persevere in your work in the hopes of making an impact that extends beyond the narrow boundaries of your own sub-field and leaves a mark on the discipline more broadly, and a recognition of this nature is an encouraging source of evidence that my work is having that sort of impact,” Anderson says.
For all of his award-winning accomplishments and scientific impact, if asked in his youth, it was unlikely Anderson would have envisioned himself a revolutionary in the psychological field, much less a college graduate.
The push to pursue a higher education came from Anderson’s grandfather, who deeply valued an education despite not having the opportunity to attend more than just a handful of college classes.
“He would tell me about how impactful the brief experience was for him and how much he wanted me to have that sort of experience,” Anderson says.
Despite his grandfather’s encouragement, Anderson was skeptical of whether an undergraduate education was achievable for someone such as himself, and initially tried his hand in the manual labor market instead. But things didn’t quite go to plan, with Anderson making little headway in spite of his best efforts.
Without a clear career path in front of him and his curiosity buoyed by his grandfather’s enthusiasm about the mysterious entity known as “college," Anderson dipped his toes into the world of higher education as a part-time student, figuring he would likely flunk out.
“Much to my surprise, my world really came alive there,” Anderson says. “I found a place where I felt like I really had something to contribute. My grandfather passed away shortly after I began my PhD studies at Johns Hopkins University. I feel like he was able to live out one of his dreams vicariously through our relationship, and I will always cherish that relationship and the profound impact that it had on me.”
When it came to choosing a field of study, Anderson didn’t hesitate for a second in choosing to pursue psychology.
“Perception was always something that fascinated me,” Anderson says. “How can two people gaze upon the same thing yet take something so very different away from what they saw? All I really know is what I have experienced through my senses: what I have seen, heard, felt, etc. How is my understanding of the world limited or even distorted by this dependence? This is the kind of stuff that kept me up at night, and often still does!”
Despite this keen interest, it wasn’t until Anderson started his master’s program in psychology at Villanova University that he learned academic research could be a paid job. Anderson —who thought all professors were exclusively teachers while scientists worked for companies inventing products — was floored by this revelation.
Learning this, Anderson began the hunt for professional research opportunities, applying to any top-tier research schools he thought could set him up with the resources needed to start a lab and launch an independent research program. Texas A&M was the first such university to reach out to Anderson, offering him a package that contained all of the necessary resources to get his research program off the ground and granting all of those resources immediately upon hire.
It wasn’t just the package that enticed Anderson but also the prospect of joining a group of professors hired to jump-start a new investment in human brain imaging, which is among the techniques used in his research. For a curious researcher like Anderson, the opportunity to build something from the ground up and chart new territory was something he couldn’t pass up.
“I’m continuing to play an active role in this process as we look to establish a new brain imaging facility, so Texas A&M continues to be an exciting place to call my academic home,” Anderson says.
Anderson has always felt supported by the College of Liberal Arts in his research, he says. The College’s clear expectations provide him with a deep sense of security that allows him to focus on his research, and he says the staff support — both at the department and the college level — to be second-to-none. “The College continues to be a staunch supporter of advancing human neuroscience research and I am honored to be a part of that,” he says.
“In a lot of ways, I have been a pretty naïve person who stumbled my way into being a professor, which has probably been an asset to me intellectually in more ways than I know,” Anderson says. “It isn’t difficult to think outside of the box when you’ve never really been inside of it.”
