Ken Nakayama

{{Short description|American psychologist}}

{{Infobox scientist

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| name = Ken Nakayama

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| nationality = American

| fields = Vision science

| workplaces = Smith Kettlewell Eye Research Institute
Harvard University

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| alma_mater = Haverford College
UCLA

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| doctoral_advisor = Donald B. Lindsley

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| doctoral_students = Peter Ulric Tse
Sara Mednick

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| known_for = Prosopagnosia
Super recognisers

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| awards = Edgar D. Tillyer Award (2017)

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Ken Nakayama is an American psychologist. Prior to retirement he was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. He is now an emeritus professor at Harvard.{{cite web |title=Ken Nakayama |url=https://psychology.fas.harvard.edu/people/ken-nakayama |website=Harvard University, Department of Psychology |publisher=Harvard University |access-date=21 May 2024}}

Nakayama is known for his work on prosopagnosia (an inability to recognize faces) and super recognisers (people with significantly better-than-average face recognition ability).{{cite magazine|last1=Song|first1=Sora|title=Do I Know You?|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1211572,00.html|accessdate=7 March 2018|magazine=Time|date=17 July 2006}}{{cite news|last1=Goldberg|first1=Carey|title=When faces have no name|url=http://archive.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2006/06/14/when_faces_have_no_name/|accessdate=7 March 2018|agency=The Boston Globe|date=14 June 2006|language=en}}{{cite magazine|last1=Keefe|first1=Patrick Radden|title=The Detectives Who Never Forget a Face|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/08/22/londons-super-recognizer-police-force|magazine=The New Yorker|accessdate=7 March 2018|language=en|date=15 August 2016}} A notable contribution is from his work on surface processing by the human visual system.{{cite web|title=Ken Nakayama, OSA living history|url=https://www.osa.org/en-us/history/biographies/bios/ken_nakayama/|access-date=August 6, 2021|website=OSA Living history}}{{cite web|title=Visual surface representation: A critical link between lower-level and higher-level vision|url=https://scholar.google.de/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=XYXUoq4AAAAJ&citation_for_view=XYXUoq4AAAAJ:4MWp96NkSFoC|access-date=2021-08-06|website=scholar.google.de}}

Nakayama received his BA from Haverford College and PhD from UCLA. From 1971 to 1990, he was at the Smith Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco. Since then, he has been at Harvard University.{{cite journal |last1=Nakayama |first1=Ken |title=Coming of Age in Science: Just Look? |journal=Annual Review of Vision Science |date=15 September 2021 |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=1–17 |doi=10.1146/annurev-vision-100419-120946 |pmid=34086479 |s2cid=235347640 |issn=2374-4642|doi-access=free }}

Nakayama helped in the formation and founding of the Vision Sciences Society and served as its first president. In 2016, the Society established the Ken Nakayama Medal for Excellence in Vision Science in honor of his numerous significant contributions.{{cite web|title=The Ken Nakayama Medal for Excellence in Vision Science|url=https://www.visionsciences.org/ken-nakayama-award/|website=Vision Sciences Society|accessdate=7 March 2018}} In 2017, he received the Edgar D. Tillyer Award from The Optical Society.{{cite web|title=Edgar D. Tillyer Award|url=https://www.osa.org/en-us/awards_and_grants/awards/award_description/edgartillyer/|publisher=The Optical Society|accessdate=7 March 2018}}