orig. Eleanor Jack
born Dec. 7, 1910, Peoria, Ill., U.S.
died Dec. 30, 2002, Columbia, S.C.
U.S. psychologist.
She taught at Smith College (1931–49) and Cornell University (from 1949). In her major work, Principles of Perceptual Learning and Development (1969), she proposed that perceptual learning is a process of discovering how to transform previously overlooked potentials of sensory stimulation into effective information. In books such as The Psychology of Reading (1975), she also contributed to studies of the reading process. She received the National Medal of Science in 1992. James J. Gibson was her husband.