Remembrance

I am deeply saddened by the news of Bill’s passing. The last time I saw him was in Boston in late 2009, at Psychonomics, and at that time he appeared perfectly healthy. The news of his passing was unexpected as I was completely unaware that he had been ill. My condolences go to his family and to others who loved him and knew him well.

As a graduate student, I was first a student and later a TA for Bill’s Perception and Cognition course. Bill was also on my dissertation committee and we published two articles together, one on signal detection theory and memory, another on the teaching effectiveness of his well-known camera obscura class demonstration.

What I admired most about Bill were his qualities of playfulness and curiosity. His sense of playfulness was evident in his inimitable wit and wacky sense of humor (for a while, his email signature read “William Banks, Professor of Aerobics and Evil”). However, he also loved to play with ideas - seemingly for the sheer enjoyment of the process. His sense of curiosity and wonder about the world around him was exciting and infectious, and my interest in all manner of things ranging from lateral inhibition to opera was piqued through my interactions with him. Of course I also learned a great deal about cognitive psychology from Bill and I still remember all kinds of interesting little facts from him that represented the products of his curiosity: Birdsong is lateralized, taking magic mushrooms increases the critical flicker fusion threshold, and that a famous composer, I think Rimsky-Korsakoff, had tinnitus later in life (and it was a high E-flat). I had always meant to catch up with Bill about these little tidbits (maybe it was Shostakovich who had the tinnitus?). I had also considered sitting in on his class one more time just to watch him teach, and to spontaneously disappear into that closet in the corner, hear him make all sorts of racket as he searched for the perfect demonstration, and then pull out that demonstration and then just amaze the students. Alas, those plans will have to remain unfulfilled.

Bill brought life, color, and humor to my graduate school experience, and he made a significant and lasting impression on me in the kind of educator, scientist, and person that I am today. Bill, whereever you are, thank you for all you have done for your students, and for me. You are deeply missed.

Matthew Prull

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Matthew Prull
Associate Professor