Visual Attention Lab

Victoria Jacoby

Victoria earned her Ph.D. from UCLA in 2024, where she worked with Dr. Phil Kellman, investigating the use of comparisons to enhance perceptual learning in categorization tasks. As a postdoctoral researcher, she studies visual search and attention, with a focus on how category structure and organization shape search and foraging behaviors. Her work also examines the ways visual attention and categorization influence performance in medical contexts. Outside of the lab, Victoria enjoys exploring U.S. National Parks (31 of 63 visited) and checking MLB ballparks off her list (18 of 30 visited).

Simon Forsting

Simon received his Bachelor's degree in Behavioral Neuroscience from Centre College. During his time there, he worked under Dr. KatieAnn Skogsberg and used EEG to understand the efficacy of different learning methods. He also worked with Dr. Skogsberg to develop a novel connectomics learning tool for undergraduate neuroscience students.  Additionally, he worked with Dr. Genevieve Bell to plan and construct Centre’s first patch-clamp electrophysiology rig, enabling new research and courses. Simon is interested in investigating neural and behavioral correlates of prevaling models of basic visual processing. In his free time, he enjoys VR eSports, badminton, and quality cooking.

Jian Chen

Jian's core work focuses on understanding how humans see, understand, and interact with information. She collaborate with colleagues in scientific areas of physics, biology, and medicine. Recently, Jian began to study mode of optimal search mediated by visualizations. She also attempts to explore how to aid people to acquire knowledge from multiple-sources (e.g., figures, tables, and texts in scholarly article cohorts).

Alexie Xie (Xiāoyǔ Xiè)

Alexie is a Master’s student in Cognitive Neuroscience at University of Munich (LMU). She is interested in understanding how people quit searching when a target cannot be found or is absent altogether. Outside the lab, Alexie enjoys exploring all kinds of sports, decorating her home, taking walks in parks or along the river, and hopes to adopt a cat next year and a dog someday.