The Samuel Sutton Award for Early Distinguished Scientific Contribution to Human ERPs and Cognition.

Dr. Samuel Sutton was the discoverer of the P300 component of the event-related potential. After his untimely death in 1986, the Board of Directors of the Samuel Sutton Award solicited monies to establish a fund that would perpetuate Sam’s legacy. We had a marvelous response, with many generous contributions from Sam's colleagues and friends. Initially the monies were used to fund an award for the best dissertation. This was given to Dr. Mikko Sams. The fund has also been used at New York State Psychiatric Institute to pay speakers who are invited to talk at the Samuel Sutton Psychophysiology and Psychopathology Colloquium.

In a meeting of members of the board, which included Jerry Bruder, Walter Ritter, David Friedman, and Sam’s widow Connie, we decided to establish an award modeled after the award given by the Society for Psychophysiological Research for early distinguished contribution to Psychophysiology. Since Sam's first love was ERPs and their relationship to cognition, and one of his favorite meetings was the International EPIC series, we thought it would be most appropriate to give the award every three years at this meeting. We hope that this award will serve to preserve Sam's legacy for young investigators establishing themselves in the field.