Using rapid serial visual presentation to measure set-specific capture, a consequence of distraction while multitasking
Journal of Visualized Experiments
Lead Author

Practice reduces set-specific capture costs only superficially
Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics
Lead Author

Science
Co-Author

Estimating the reproducibility of psychological science
Science
Co-Author

A bottleneck model of set-specific capture
Plos One
Lead Author

The effect of attention on repetition suppression and multivoxel pattern similarity
Journal of cognitive neuroscience
Lead Author

An open, large-scale, collaborative effort to estimate the reproducibility of psychological science
Perspectives on Psychological Science
Co-Author

Set-specific capture can be reduced by pre-emptively occupying a limited-capacity focus of attention
Visual cognition
Lead Author

Involuntary transfer of a top-down attentional set into the focus of attention: Evidence from a contingent attentional capture paradigm
Attention, Perception & Psychophysics
Lead Author

Made you look! Consciously perceived, irrelevant instructional cues can hijack the attentional network
NeuroImage
Lead Author

Handbook of neuroscience for the behavioral sciences
Co-Author

The contents of visual memory are only partially under volitional control
Memory & cognition
Co-Author

The effects of musical training on verbal memory
Psychology of Music
Co-Author

Neuroscientific evidence about the distinction between short- and long-term memory
Current directions in psychological science
Co-Author

The mind and brain of short-term memory
Annual Review of Psychology
Co-Author

Visual working memory is impaired when the medial temporal lobe is damaged
Journal of cognitive neuroscience
Co-Author

Using perfusion fMRI to measure continuous changes in neural activity with learning
Brain and cognition
Co-author

Working memory for conjunctions relies on the medial temporal lobe
Journal of Neuroscience
Co-Author

Journal of experimental psychology: human perception and performance
Co-Author

Assistant Professor
Elmhurst College
Elmhurst, IL

Postdoctoral Associate
Yale University
New Haven, CT
Visual Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory

Research Associate
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Research Associate for Ingrid Olson (now at Temple University)

I generally study the intersection among attention, perception, and memory. In one line of work I've been investigating the limits of visual attention under conditions of multitasking and distracting. In my lab, we have found that people are capable of looking for more than one item at a time, but that distraction throws us off track, and the costs are far greater during multitasking than when looking for a single item. We've looked into how training and strategy play a role, as well as how the attentional system manages different stimulus types in multitasking situations. We've also found that the number of concurrently maintained goals has an effect on the magnitude of distraction costs. Also in studying visual search, my students have explored questions such as multisensory contributions to search as well as the effect of perceived lighting.  In other lines of work, my students and I have studied topics such as specialized attention to emotional stimuli, the effect of cell phone interruptions while driving, the relationship between musical training and fluid cognition, synesthesia, visual memory, musical illusions, and perceptual afterimages. Finally, my interest in open science has led me to contribute to the large-scale reproducibility project, a 200+ scientist collaboration to systematically replicate numerous studies in the field, with the hope of inspiring improved scientific and ethical practices in our field as well as others in science. In my laboratory we use both behavioral and eye-tracking methods. Undergraduates lead or collaborate on all aspects of projects.