The OPAM conference is dedicated to issues in Object Perception, Attention, and Memory. OPAM is a forum primarily for scientists early in their careers, such as graduate students or postdocs. It provides an excellent opportunity to present research to a large audience mainly drawn from the Psychonomics community. The conference embraces a diversity of approaches, including psychophysics, eye-tracking, and neuroimaging.

OPAM takes place immediately before the Psychonomic Society’s Annual Meeting and at the same hotel/convention.

Abstract submission is now open! To submit an abstract, please register for a free OPAM account. Abstracts are due by the end of day on July 15th, (last time zone on Earth).

Please see below for general information on the submission process.

IMPORTANT REQUEST from the OPAM team regarding talk submissions:

Historically, the Psychonomic Society reserved talk presentations for Fellows, but they have recently changed their policy to allow early career researchers to present on behalf of their PIs. OPAM supports this change as it aligns with our goal of providing more opportunities for early career researchers to share their findings with a global audience. However, this has necessitated a slight modification in our practices due to the lack of a policy preventing researchers from presenting the same talk at both OPAM and Psychonomics. Starting with OPAM31, we kindly ask that researchers submitting talk abstracts to both OPAM and Psychonomics ensure their presentations have distinctive elements. In essence, please refrain from giving the same talk twice. By adhering to this request, you will help us uphold our commitment to promoting early-career scientists’ research and enhancing access to scholarly achievements and international academic collaboration.

General Information:

Thanks to the enthusiasm of the community in presenting at OPAM, the conference has grown rapidly in recent years. In the event that the number of submitted abstracts exceeds our capacity estimates, OPAM creates a waiting list and makes final decisions regarding acceptance of these wait-listed abstracts after we have confirmed our allowable poster space. In determining wait-listed submissions, we consider the status of the presenter, submission quality, and scope. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about this process.

Guidelines:

Please adhere to the following guidelines to maximize your chances for a successful submission:

1. Individuals may be first author on only one submission. It is preferred that the first author complete the abstract submission form

2. Authors will have the choice to request evaluation for talk and/or poster format.

3. Each submission requires an abstract (max 100 words) and a summary (max 1000 words). Abstracts, when accepted, will be reprinted in our program book. Summaries will provide the basis for evaluation of the submissions, and it is not required to fill up the word count. All submissions will be assessed based on the quality of the work. Please note that the word count in Google Forms is slightly different than that in Microsoft Word. If this presents a problem, we recommend cutting to fit the count within Google Forms.

4. Submissions must either 1.) describe a scientific study in which data were obtained, or 2.) describe a secondary data analysis (e.g., meta-analyses) if the methodology fits the OPAM design.

5. Complete summaries will include discussion of research questions, hypotheses, methods, results, implications, and in-text citations.  Detailed statistics are not required in the summary.

6. The word limit for the summary does not include references. References are included separately, but please do not include more than 5-10 references.

Review Procedure:

Submissions are reviewed based on scientific merit, with preference given to submissions addressing issues related to object processing in terms of perception, attention, and memory.

• The final selection of presentations will be biased in favor of students and postdocs, as the goal of OPAM is to offer young researchers, who are not yet eligible to present at Psychonomics, a forum to present their research.

• Submissions by undergraduate students are encouraged as well.

• To ensure that we hear as many ideas as possible, greater priority for talk presentations will be assigned to authors who did not give talks in the previous year. However, we still strongly encourage submissions from those who presented talks (and posters) last year.

Partnership with Visual Cognition:

Visual Cognition has been a longtime supporter and sponsor of OPAM. Submissions that are chosen for talk presentations will have the opportunity to submit their ultimate manuscripts through a fast-tracked and full peer-review process for publication at Visual Cognition. OPAM talks-turned-manuscripts will be expedited and guaranteed a 40-day turnaround from submission to initial decision (including full reviews). Furthermore, the editorial board at Visual Cognition are eager to mentor young trainees and will provide extra constructive feedback through the peer-review process. Publications that come out of this process will be highlighted as special OPAM papers. This OPAM–Visual Cognition publication opportunity is completely optional, and presenters are by no means obliged to submit to Visual Cognition; furthermore, ultimate acceptance of the submitted manuscript is not guaranteed. However, we sincerely hope that high-quality presentations that are submitted to OPAM and chosen for talks will take advantage of this unique opportunity!

The application for Professional Development Award is currently not open. To apply, please register a free OPAM account.

Please see below for general information on the submission process.

Eligibility:

Applicants must be the first-author and presenter of a submitted poster or talk and must not have previously received the award.

Requirements:

In addition to the standard poster/talk submission, applicants wishing to be considered for the award will need to submit:

• Personal statement (max 500 words): A brief statement explaining how you intend to use the award, how the conference attendance will contribute to your professional development, and a list of specific goals for the conference. Goals may include activities such as asking questions during sessions, discussing research, engaging with faculty, networking with peers, etc.

• Letter of support: A letter of support from your faculty advisor or a knowledgeable colleague, explaining why you deserve the award and how the award will aid you in achieving your professional goals.

• A current CV.

To attend OPAM, you must register for the conference. Registration is completely free. Stay tuned for more information on conference registration soon!

Poster Presentations

We will be using the same poster boards as the main Psychonomic Society conference, and the same rules for posters apply. Specifically:

For proper display at the venue, your poster should have a horizontal (or landscape) orientation and be no larger than the following dimensions:

Width: 8 feet (2.44 meters)

Height: 4 feet (1.22 meters)

Talk Presentations

You will have 15 minutes for your presentation, which includes 12 minutes for the talk, and 3 minutes for questions.  The moderator will hold up placards when you have five minutes left, two minutes, one minute, and then a STOP sign.  You are strongly encouraged to stop by the end of 12 minutes to allow enough time for questions, and to enable us to stay on schedule.  Speakers are asked to bring their own laptops, along with any necessary dongles/cables/adapters, to the conference. Please also bring a USB memory stick containing your presentation as a backup. A laser pointer will be available to all speakers during their presentations, as will a microphone. Please arrive at least 5 minutes before your session starts to check in with the session moderator. You will have the opportunity – but are not required – to test your laptop connection to the projector before your session begins.