# Stephen Kosslyn

Stephen M. Kosslyn (born 1948) is an American psychologist and neuroscientist He is a former chair of the psychology department and dean of social sciences at Harvard University. Kosslyn is currently the president of Active Learning Sciences Inc., which helps institutions use AI to design, deliver, and assess active-learning based courses and educational programs. He is also Professor Emeritus at Harvard University.

## Work

Stephen M. Kosslyn is one of the founders of cognitive neuroscience. He is best known for his pioneering work on mental imagery, visual cognition, and the science of learning. His major scientific contributions are as follows.

### Mental Imagery and Visual Cognition

Kosslyn illuminated the nature of mental images (e.g., “seeing with the mind’s eye”), through both empirical studies and theoretical models. His studies demonstrated that people take longer to mentally scan greater distances across objects in their mental images, supporting the idea that mental imagery preserves spatial properties. He also found that people could detect more details when they "zoomed in" on imagined objects. In addition, he demonstrated that depictive (“picture-like”) visual mental imagery can be implemented in computational systems, thereby removing much of the vagueness of the concept of mental imagery. He also demonstrated that visual mental imagery relies on four distinct sets of processing components, involved in: generating the image, maintaining it, transforming it, and interpreting it.

### Brain Basis of Visual Mental Imagery

Kosslyn proposed a detailed theory of how visual information is stored in the brain. His theory posits, and empirical findings supported, that visual mental images are reconstructed in the occipital cortex (the first area of the cortex to receive input during visual perception) when we need high resolution. After they are generated into this structure, they can be manipulated and reinterpreted. He also elucidated the role of two complementary visual pathways in the brain during visual mental imagery: The dorsal stream ("where" pathway), which processes spatial and motion-related imagery, versus the ventral stream ("what" pathway), which processes shape and detailed visual characteristics. In addition, Kosslyn showed that the left cerebral hemisphere relies on “categorical” spatial representations (e.g., “left of”), whereas the right cerebral hemisphere relies on metric, “coordinate,” representations. He and his colleagues found that different sorts of mental images are constructed by arranging parts using one or the other type of spatial relations. Furthermore, using positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), he and his colleagues showed that visual mental imagery activates most of the same brain regions that are activated during visual perception.

### Visual Communication and Education

Kosslyn applied cognitive science findings and theories to education and business. Rooted in a wide variety of empirical findings, Kosslyn formulated cognitive principles to guide visual data displays to convey information clearly and efficiently. He also formulated cognitive principles that produce better PowerPoint presentations and visual communications. More recently, Kosslyn developed evidence-based strategies and specific methods for online learning to maximize cognitive engagement. Kosslyn showed how to use AI to design, deliver and assess active learning. He also developed a general method (the “Cognitive Amplifier Loop”) for human users to interact with AI to accomplish specific tasks.

## Biography

Kosslyn attended graduate school at Stanford University and received a PhD in psychology from Stanford in 1974. After an appointment as assistant professor of psychology at Johns Hopkins, he joined the faculty at Harvard in 1977, where he served as the departmental chair, Dean of Social Sciences, and the John Lindsley Professor. He also was codirector of the Mind of the Market Lab at Harvard Business School and was an associate in the department of neurology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. In 2010, Kosslyn was appointed director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. Following this, Kosslyn was the Founding Dean and Chief Academic Officer of the Minerva Schools (now Minerva University). He then was the founder and chief academic officer of Foundry College, an online two-year college. And, most recently, he is founder, President and CEO of Active Learning Sciences, Inc.
Between 1998 and 2002, Harvard received $200,000 in donations from Jeffrey Epstein to support Kosslyn’s research. A report from Harvard University shows that Kosslyn had known Epstein for about nine years and supported his application as a visiting fellow in the department of psychology in September 2005. The report noted that Kosslyn did not disclose Epstein's donations in the accompanying documents. Epstein "lacked academic qualifications," but there was speculation that his application was approved with the support of Kosslyn as the head of the department. The report also noted that disclosure was not requested, and that Harvard—having accepted the gifts—was previously aware of this funding. Epstein withdrew from his appointment in 2006 following his arrest for sex criminal offenses.
Kosslyn has received numerous honors for his research. These include the National Academy of Sciences Initiatives in Research Award, the Prix Jean-Louis Signoret, three honorary doctorates (from the University of Caen, France; the University of Paris-Descartes, France; the University of Bern, Switzerland), a Guggenheim fellowship, and a Cattell Award. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Society of Experimental Psychologists, and Academia Rodinensis pro Remediatione (Switzerland).

## Selected publications

Kosslyn has published over 350 scientific papers and written or co-authored 16 books and edited or co-edited 14 books, including the following:

### Selected Books

* Kosslyn, Stephen M. (1980). Image and mind. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-44366-2.
* Kosslyn, Stephen M. (1983). Ghosts in the mind's machine: creating and using images in the brain (1st ed.). New York: Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-95257-5.
* Kosslyn, Stephen M.; Koenig, Olivier (1995). Wet mind: the new cognitive neuroscience (1st ed.). New York: Free Press. ISBN 978-0-02-874085-0.
* Kosslyn, Stephen M. (1994). Elements of graph design. New York, NY: Freeman. ISBN 978-0-7167-2362-2.
* Kosslyn, Stephen M. (1994), Image and brain: Resolving the imagery debate, Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, ISBN 978-0-262-27748-8, retrieved 2025-02-03
* Kosslyn, Stephen M.; Rosenberg, Robin S. (2001). Psychology: The brain, the person, the world. Allyn and Bacon. ISBN 978-0-205-27465-9.
* Kosslyn, Stephen M.; Thompson, William L.; Ganis, Giorgio (2006-03-23), The case for mental imagery, New York: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-517908-8, retrieved 2025-02-03
* Kosslyn, Stephen M. (2006). Graph design for the eye and mind. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-531184-6.
* Smith, Edward E.; Kosslyn, Stephen M. (2007). Cognitive psychology: mind and brain. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson/Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-182508-6. OCLC 64208315.
* Kosslyn, Stephen M. (2007). Clear and to the point: 8 psychological principles for Compelling PowerPoint presentations. New York: Oxford University Press USA - OSO. ISBN 978-0-19-532069-5.
* Kosslyn, Stephen M.; Rosenberg, Robin (2010). Psychology in context (3rd ed.). Allyn & Bacon. p. 783. ISBN 9780205456147.
* Kosslyn, Stephen M.; Rosenberg, Robin (2014). Abnormal psychology (2nd ed.). Worth Publishers. p. 688. ISBN 978-1429242165.
* Kosslyn, Stephen M. (2010). Better PowerPoint: Quick fixes based on how your audience thinks. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-537675-3.
* Kosslyn, Stephen M.; Miller, G. Wayne (2013). Top brain, bottom brain: Surprising insights into how you think. Riverside: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4516-4510-1.
* Kosslyn, Stephen M.; Nelson, Ben, eds. (2017). Building the intentional university: Minerva and the future of higher education. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-03715-0.
* Kosslyn, Stephen M.; Rosenberg, Robin (2019). Introducing psychology : Brain, person, group. ISBN 978-0205777174.
* Kosslyn, Stephen M. (2020). Active learning online: Five principles that make online courses come alive. Boston, Massachusetts: Alinea Learning. ISBN 978-1735810706.
* Kosslyn, Stephen M. (2023). Active learning with AI: A practical guide. Boston Massachusetts: Alinea Learning. ISBN 979-8989214006.
* Kosslyn, Stephen M. (2024). Learning to flourish in the age of AI. New York, NY: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-032-68665-3.