Dirk Beer - Color Vision at UCSD Psychology Department

I am a Project Scientist at Don MacLeod's Vision Lab at UCSD. My interest is in understanding which basic image characteristics determine appearance, and exactly how those properties are encoded by the brain and translated into the things we see.Occasionally I consult on image processing and design of perceptual experiments.

Papers:

Beer, R.D., MacLeod, D.I.A., and Miller, T.P. (2005) The Extended Maxwellian View (BIGMAX): A high-intensity, high-saturation color display
for clinical diagnosis and vision research. Behavior Research Methods, 37 (3), 513-521. abstract pdf
Beer, R.D. and MacLeod, D.I.A. (2000) Pre-exposure to contrast selectively compresses the achromatic half-axes of color space. Vision Research, 40, 3083-3088. abstract pdf

    Beer, R.D., Krizay, E.A., & MacLeod, D.I.A. (2007). Spatiotemporal averaging along a moving trajectory. poster
    Czuba, T.B., Beer, R.D., & MacLeod, D.I.A. (2007). Adaptation and Afterimages: A model of inverse multiplicative sensitivity adjustment. poster
    Beer, R.D., Dinca, A.,& MacLeod, D. I. A. (2006). Ideal white can be yellowish or bluish, but not reddish or greenish. Journal of Vision, 6(6), 417a, http://journalofvision.org/6/6/417/. slides
    MacLeod, D. I. A., & Beer, R. D. (2005). Vision works by concatenating factors of change [Abstract]. Journal of Vision, 5(8), 248a, http://journalofvision.org/5/8/248/, doi:10.1167/5.8.248. poster
    Beer, R. D., Wortman, J., Horwitz, G., & MacLeod, D. (2005). Compensation of white for macular filtering [Abstract]. Journal of Vision, 5(8), 282a, http://journalofvision.org/5/8/282/, doi:10.1167/5.8.282. poster
    Beer, R. D., MacLeod, D. I. A. and Miller, T. (2003) The Black Hole Test for Retinal Light Spread. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., 44: E-Abstract 4194. abstract slides from talk
    MacLeod, D. I. A., & Beer, R. D. (2003). The extended Maxwellian view [Abstract]. Journal of Vision, 3(9), 341a, http://journalofvision.org/3/9/341/, doi:10.1167/3.9.341. poster
    Beer, R. D., & MacLeod, D. I. A. (2003). Color selectivity in metacontrast: asymmetrical and anisotropic [Abstract]. Journal of Vision, 3(9), 138a, http://journalofvision.org/3/9/138/, doi:10.1167/3.9.138. slides from talk
    Beer, R. D., Becker, M., Anstis, S., & MacLeod, D. (2002). Polarity-specific masking of isoluminant colors [Abstract]. Journal of Vision, 2(7), 546a, http://journalofvision.org/2/7/546/, DOI 10.1167/2.7.546. abstract slides demo

    Beer, R. D. & MacLeod, D. I. A. (2001). Afterimage appearance and adaptation [Abstract]. Journal of Vision, 1(3), 458a, http://journalofvision.org/1/3/458, DOI 10.1167/1.3.458. pdf related demo
    Beer, R.D., MacLeod, D.I.A. and Tan, E.M. (2000) Pre-adaptation to isoluminant pattern generates sensitivity losses selective for chromatic polarity. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 41(4), 4291. Poster presentation in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. abstract poster
    Beer, R.D. and MacLeod, D.I.A. (1999) Polarity-specific contrast adaptation. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 40(4), 939. Paper presentation in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. abstract slides
    Beer, R.D. and MacLeod, D.I.A. (1998) Pre-exposure to contrast asymmetrically compresses the achromatic axis of color space. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 39(4). Poster presentation in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. abstract poster
    Beer, R.D., Jameson, K.A. and Kaiwi, J.L. (1997) Empirical assessment of detection and classification performance with a two-dimensional color code. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 38(4), 4176. Poster presentation in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. abstract

(Files are MS Word or Power Point. Please let me know if you have trouble downloading or viewing them.)

Awards:

Vision Sciences Society 2003 Student Award & Travel Grant
National Eye Institute Travel Grant, May 1999.
UCSD Center for Teaching Development TA Excellence Award, June 2001.
Norman Anderson Travel and Research Grant, March 2000, May 1998.

Ph.D. in Psychology, 2003
University of California at San Diego
La Jolla, California

M.A. in Experimental Psychology, 1998
University of California at San Diego
La Jolla, California

B.S. in Electrical Engineering, 1992
GMI Engineering & Management Institute (now Kettering University)
Flint, Michigan

1997 - 2003 Graduate Teaching Assistant, Graduate Research Assistant Department of Psychology University of California at San Diego	1998 - present Programmer Analyst Department of Psychology, School of Medicine University of California, San Diego
1995-1996 Photographic Lab Technician JM Chromacolor, San Diego	1993-1994 Studio Photographer, Photography Instructor Olan Mills Portrait Studios, San Diego
1991-1992 Associate Engineer Flint Automotive Division Product Engineering General Motors, Flint, Michigan	1986-1991 Co-op Intern (Engineering, Assembly) Buick-Oldsmobile-Cadillac Group General Motors, Flint, Michigan