Research in my lab examines questions about the mental mechanisms that underlie overt movements of the eyes and limbs, and covert movements of visual attention. We seek answers to fundamental questions about such behaviors including: To what extent do eye, limb and attention movement systems obey similar operating principles or perhaps employ shared mental mechanisms? To what extent do these systems share spatial information? In what reference frames are the various movements planned and implemented? In a typical experiment a subject might view a video display and point to or look at objects on the display while the position of their eye and hand is recorded. Recently we have been interested in the special role that perceptual objects may play. For example, when a new object appears in a scene it attracts attention, resulting first in a performance benefit for decisions about the object or nearby locations. After a short time has passed however, a person is inhibited in reorienting to the new object. In a related investigation we have found that attention may be initially directed to only part of a perceptual object, but the attentional benefit will then seem to spread throughout the entire object. Our hope is that these studies can lead to a better understanding of the representations that underlie covert movements of attention and overt movements of the eyes and limbs.
Research Publications
Abrams RA, Christ SE (2005 Feb). The onset of receding motion captures attention: comment on Franconeri and Simons (2003). Percept Psychophys. 67 (2): 219-23. Full Article >
Kincade JM, Abrams RA, Astafiev SV, Shulman GL, Corbetta M (2005 May 4). An event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging study of voluntary and stimulus-driven orienting of attention. J Neurosci. 25 (18): 4593-604. Full Article >
Chang SW, Abrams RA (2004 Oct). Hand movements deviate toward distracters in the absence of response competition. J Gen Psychol. 131 (4): 328-44. Full Article >
Lawrence BM, Myerson J, Abrams RA (2004 Jun). Interference with spatial working memory: an eye movement is more than a shift of attention. Psychon Bull Rev. 11 (3): 488-94. Full Article >
Abrams RA, Christ SE (2003 Sep). Motion onset captures attention. Psychol Sci. 14 (5): 427-32. Full Article >
Christ SE, White DA, Brunstrom JE, Abrams RA (2003 Jan). Inhibitory control following perinatal brain injury. Neuropsychology. 17 (1): 171-8. Full Article >
Contact Info
Richard A. Abrams, Ph.D.
Office Location: 323B Psychology Bldg.
Office Phone: 314-935-6538
Campus Box: 1125
Fax: 314-935-7588
rabrams@wustl.edu
http://rabrams.net
