science

William James Prize

William James Prize is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand William James Prize rather than just read about it. In short: The William James Prize for Contributions to the Study of Consciousness is an award given by the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC). Each year one prize is awarded for an outstanding published contribution to the empirical or philosophical study of consciousness by a graduate student or postdoctoral scholar within five years of receiving a PhD or other advanced degree.

Key takeaways

William James Prize belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect William James Prize to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of William James Prize from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The William James Prize for Contributions to the Study of Consciousness is an award given by the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC). Each year one prize is awarded for an outstanding published contribution to the empirical or philosophical study of consciousness by a graduate student or postdoctoral scholar within five years of receiving a PhD or other advanced degree. The prize consists of:

An award of $1000(USD); Invitation to present a plenary address at the next meeting of the ASSC; Lifetime membership in the ASSC.

William James Prize Winners (ASSC) The table below names the most recent winners, recognizing an exceptional published work in the empirical or philosophical research of consciousness by a scholar early in their career.

Note: The prize recognizes work published within a specific timeframe (typically five years) of the scholar receiving their advanced degree. The date listed is the year the award was conferred. The exact year of the first award is not explicitly stated in one place, historical documents indicate the prize was being regularly awarded by the early 2000s. The ASSC website mentions that the 2025 prize was the 22nd edition, which would imply the first award was in 2004.

References

External links

Papers awarded Award for 2016: "Untangling brain-wide dynamics in consciousness by cross-embedding" by Satohiro Tajima and colleagues (PLoS Computational Biology, 11(11): e1004537, 1-28) Award for 2015: "Unconscious information changes decision accuracy but not confidence" by Alexandra Vlassova and colleagues (PNAS, 2014, 111(45), 16214–16218) Award for 2014: "Priming of awareness or how not to measure visual awareness" by Zhicheng Lin and colleagues (Journal of Vision, 2014, 14(1):27, 1–17) Award for 2013: "An accumulator model for spontaneous neural activity prior to self-initiated movement" by Aaron Schurger and colleagues (PNAS, 2012, 109(42): E2904-E2913) Award for 2012: "Relating Introspective Accuracy to Individual Differences in Brain Structure" by Stephen Fleming and colleagues (Science, 2010, 329(5998), 1541–43) Award for 2011: "Perception and Iconic Memory: What Sperling Doesn’t Show" by Ian Phillips and colleagues (Mind & Language, 2011, 26(4), 381–411) Award for 2010: "The brain under self-control: modulation of inhibitory and monitoring cortical networks during hypnotic paralysis" by Yann Cojan and colleagues (Neuron, 2009, 62(6), 862-75) Award for 2009: "The functional impact of mental imagery on conscious perception" Joel Pearson and colleagues (Current Biology, 2008, 18, 982-986) Award for 2008: "Continuous flash suppression reduces negative afterimages" by Naotsugu Tsuchiya and colleagues (Nature Neuroscience, 2005, 8(8), 1096–1101) Award for 2007: "Cerebral bases of subliminal and supraliminal priming during reading" by Sid Kouider and colleagues (Cerebral Cortex, 2007, 17, 2019–2029) Award for 2006: "Traveling waves of activity in early visual cortex during binocular rivalry" by Sang-Hun Lee and colleagues (Nature Neuroscience, 2005, 8, 22-23) Award for 2005: "Attention to Intention" by Hakwan Lau and colleagues (Science, 2004, 303, 1208–1210). Award for 2004: "Brain Function in the Vegetative State" by Steven Laureys and colleagues (Acta Neurologica Belgica, 2002, 102, 177–185).

Useful links William James Prize homepage

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with William James Prize

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what William James Prize claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to William James Prize before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about William James Prize ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of William James Prize

In research: William James Prize appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses William James Prize in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: William James Prize is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American psychology awards, Consciousness, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for William James Prize outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study William James Prize in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what William James Prize means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain William James Prize out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is William James Prize in simple terms?

Why does William James Prize matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study William James Prize?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on William James Prize.