Research Interests
- Attention
- Vision
Research Description
In my work on visual attention I use a variety of methodologies and approaches: behavioral psychophysics, eye-tracking, and computational modeling.
For more information on my ongoing projects visit: https://publish.illinois.edu/visionlab/projects/
Education
- PhD. from the University of Geneva (Switzerland)
Awards and Honors
Awarded a 2019 research grant from the National Science Foundation (Behavioral and Cognitive Science Division, award number: 1921735). Role: PI. Title: CompCog: Template Contrast and Saliency (TCAS) Toolbox: a tool to visualize parallel attentive evaluation of scenes.
Awarded a 2016 research grant from the BRIDGE Birmingham-Illinois partnership initiative.
Awarded the 2014 NARSAD Young Investigator Grant, Brain & Behavior research Foundation
Courses Taught
Psyc230 Perception and Sensory Processes (face-to-face: Fall and Spring; Online: Winter and Summer)
Psyc396 The Attentive Mind
Global Eduction and Training (GET) in the context of the Engeneering Research Summer School
Additional Campus Affiliations
Research Associate Professor, Psychology
Honors & Awards
Awarded a 2019 research grant from the National Science Foundation (Behavioral and Cognitive Science Division, award number: 1921735). Role: PI. Title: CompCog: Template Contrast and Saliency (TCAS) Toolbox: a tool to visualize parallel attentive evaluation of scenes.
Awarded a 2016 research grant from the BRIDGE Birmingham-Illinois partnership initiative.
Awarded the 2014 NARSAD Young Investigator Grant, Brain & Behavior research Foundation
Recent Publications
Lleras, A., Buetti, S. & Xu, Z.J. Incorporating the properties of peripheral vision into theories of visual search. Nat Rev Psychol (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-022-00097-1.
Ng, G.J.P., Patel, T. N., Buetti, S., & Lleras, A. (2021). Prioritization in Visual Attention Does Not Work the Way You Think It Does. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human, Perception and Performance. 47(2):252-268. doi: 10.1037/xhp0000887. Epub 2020 Dec 14.
Xu, J., Lleras, A., Shao, Y., & Buetti, S. (2021). Distractor–distractor interactions in visual search for oriented targets explain the increased difficulty observed in nonlinearly separable conditions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human, Perception and Performance, 47(9), 1274-1297.
Xu, Z., Lleras, A. & Buetti, S. Predicting how surface texture and shape combine in the human visual system to direct attention. Nature Scientific Reports, 11, 6170 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-85605-8
Lleras, A., Wang. Z., Ng., G.J.P., Ballew, K., Xu, J., & Buetti, S. (2020). A target contrast signal theory of parallel processing in goal-directed search. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 82, 394-425. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-019-01928-9
Buetti, S., Cronin, D. A., Madison, A. M., Wang, Z., & Lleras, A. (2016). Towards a better understanding of parallel visual processing in human vision: Evidence for exhaustive analysis of visual information. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 145(6), 672-707. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xge0000163