66th Annual STS (2006-2007)
Finalists
Sophie Cai

CONNECTICUT
Sophie Cai, 16, of Ridgefield, investigated a novel technique for studying how information is processed by the human visual system for her behavioral and social sciences project in the Intel Science Talent Search. She believes her findings may have implications in real world visual searches like baggage and x-ray screenings. For her study, Sophie collected and analyzed data resulting from four 200-trial computer-based experiments, with twelve participants and two different visual searches. Each search was split into 67-millisecond exposures, and in between, participants rated their response confidence. By tracking their ability to differentiate between targets and distractors over time, in both low-contrast feature and spatial configuration searches, she was able to identify the visual recognition mechanism as serial rather than parallel processing. Sophie, first in her class of 415 at Ridgefield High School, is editor-in-chief of the school paper and vice president of the debate team. She has won numerous awards in academic and piano competitions and has perfect SAT scores. The daughter of Dr. Christopher Chunsheng Cai and Gloria Hong Chien, she hopes to continue her studies at Harvard or MIT.