Society for Nature and Cognition 2025

The event program will consist of a keynote speaker, oral presentations, a poster session, and a networking opportunity. Please stay tuned for more details as they become available.

Keynote Speaker

David Strayer, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Cognition and Neuroscience area of the Department of Psychology at the University of Utah, where he also serves as Director of the Applied Cognition Laboratory. He earned his B.A. in Psychology and M.S. in Experimental Psychology from Eastern Washington University, and his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Strayer has been a member of the University of Utah faculty since 1991, where he has taught and led research focused on the cognitive and neural mechanisms of attention.

Dr. David Strayer’s research focuses on the dynamics of human attention in both real-world and controlled laboratory settings. His work ranges from uncovering the cognitive limitations of multitasking—particularly in high-risk contexts such as distracted driving—to investigating how exposure to natural environments can replenish depleted attentional resources. A unifying theme throughout his research is the identification of factors that impair or enhance attention, with broad implications for safety, performance, and psychological well-being.  To address these questions, Dr. Strayer utilizes a multi-method approach that integrates controlled behavioral experiments with a diverse array of converging measures. These include psychophysiological tools such as EEG, ECG, and fMRI, as well as self-report instruments and both primary (e.g., driving performance) and secondary task performance metrics (e.g., reaction time). This comprehensive methodology allows for a nuanced analysis of the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying attention and their interaction with environmental demands.  Dr. Strayer’s work not only advances theoretical models of attentional control and cognitive load but also informs practical applications. His findings have contributed to the development of safer human-technology systems, influenced public policy regarding mobile phone use while driving, and supported growing interest in nature-based approaches to cognitive restoration.

Dr. Strayer is a fellow of the Psychonomic Society, the Association for Psychological Science, and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. He was recently named a Titan of Human Factors and appointed as a John R. Park Professor of Psychology. His research has been supported by fellowships from NASA/AMES, the National Forest Service, and the REI Cooperative Action Fund, and he has shared his work on the TED stage. 

The abstract submission deadline for SNAC 2025 is September 15, 2025. Submissions by undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdocs are highly encouraged.

We ask that researchers submitting abstracts to both SNAC and the Psychonomics Annual Meeting ensure that their presentations have distinctive elements. That is, please do not propose to give the same presentation twice.

Please contact us at snac.symposium@gmail.com if you have any questions about this process.

Submission Guidelines

Please adhere to the following abstract guidelines:

• Individuals may be first author on only one submission.
• Authors will have the choice to request evaluation for either a standard talk or a poster. If willing to present in either format, please indicate which format and order of preference.
• Each submission requires an abstract (min 300 words - max 500 words).
• The word limit for the abstract does not include references, but please do not include more than 10 references.
• Complete abstracts should include discussion of research questions, hypotheses, methods, results, and implications.
  • Detailed reporting of statistics is not required.

Abstract Submission Template and Instructions

Please submit your abstract using the button below by September 15, 2025. Please use the abstract template (also provided below) to format your submission. The abstract template comprises of a single Microsoft Word document with the following information (in this order):

• Presentation type requested (standard talk, poster presentation)
• Presentation location (in person, remote)
• Abstract title
• Author names, affiliations, and email addresses
• Lead author title (faculty/researcher, postdoc, grad student, undergrad student, other)
• Abstract (300 to 500 words)
• References (10 max)

Submit Abstract HereDownload Template

Review Procedure

Submissions will be blind-reviewed based on scientific merit and relevance to issues related to nature and cognition.