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About me

I'm an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto Mississauga. I do research on visual perception, with a focus on individual differences, spatial vision, eye movements, and applied perception.

Email: a.kosovicheva [at] utoronto.ca

Lab Website: Applied Perception & Psychophysics Lab

CV (pdf)  ◆  Google Scholar


Anna Kosovicheva Photo

Research

Individual differences

Why do people sometimes disagree about what they see? My research examines individual differences in fundamental visual processes and the implications they have for perception in the real-world. Many real-world settings can benefit from an individual differences approach,including digital readability, collaborative tasks, and visual impairment. Specific research areas include:



Visual localization
How does the brain register the locations of the objects that we see in the world? Object positions are primarily assigned based on where they fall on the retina, but perceived location can be influenced by a number of additional factors, such as surrounding motion, visual attention, and stimulus history. Recently, I have examined individual differences in the errors that people make when localizing visual targets, and how the visual system maintains perceived alignment between the two hemifields.
Grand Central Terminal
Eye closeup
Eye movements
Eye movements are essential for interacting with our environment. The eyes can move from one location to the next using rapid movements called saccades, which can be made up to 2-4 times per second. Do these eye movements show similar errors to those made by the visual system? I have shown that eye movements can reflect individual differences in localization errors, and in some conditions, can be influenced by motion-induced position shifts.
Translational research
Can we use our understanding of eye movements and localization to benefit individuals with visual impairments? Localization deficits are implicated in a number of visual disorders, such as strabismus and amblyopia, and a complete understanding of this process can help guide diagnostic tools and treatments for these deficits. Recently, I have been investigating new measurement procedures for evaluating eye movements in individuals with strabismus.
phoropter

Publications

Peripheral binocular imbalance in anisometropic and strabismic amblyopes.
Wiecek, E., Kosovicheva, A., Ahmed, Z., Nabasaliza, A., Kazlas, M., Chan, K., Hunter, D. G., & Bex, P. J.
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science  (In press) • [pdf coming soon]
Spatial variability in localization biases predicts crowding performance.
Haseeb, Z., Wolfe, B., & Kosovicheva, A.
Journal of Vision  (2023) • pdf data and materials
Road Hazard Stimuli: Annotated naturalistic road videos for studying hazard and scene perception.
Song, J., Kosovicheva, A., & Wolfe, B
Behavior Research Methods  (2023) • pdf data and materials
Normal blindness: when we Look But Fail To See.
Kosovicheva, A., Wolfe, J. M., & Wolfe, B.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences  (2022) • pdf
Taking prevalence effects on the road: Rare hazards are often missed.
Wolfe, J. M., Kosovicheva, A., & Wolfe, B.
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review  (2022) • pdfdata and materials
Effects of temporal and spatiotemporal cues on detection of dynamic road hazards.
Wolfe, B., Kosovicheva, A., Stent, S., & Rosenholtz, R.
Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications  (2021) • pdfdata and materials
Gravitational effects of scene information in object localization.
Kosovicheva, A. & Bex, P. J.
Scientific Reports  (2021) • pdf data and materials
A dichoptic feedback-based oculomotor training method to manipulate interocular alignment.
Caoli, A., Sabatini, S., Gibaldi, A., Maiello, G., Kosovicheva, A., & Bex. P. J.
Scientific Reports  (2020) • pdf data and materials
Perceptual effects of unequal saccadic adaptation produced by a dichoptic step.
Kosovicheva, A. & Bex, P. J.
Journal of Vision  (2020) • pdf data and materials
Looking ahead: When do you find the next item in foraging visual search?
Kosovicheva, A., Alaoui-Soce, A., & Wolfe, J. M.
Journal of Vision  (2020) • pdf data and materials
What color was it?: A psychophysical paradigm for tracking subjective progress in continuous tasks.
Kosovicheva, A., & Bex, P. J.
Perception  (2020) • article linkpdf data and materials
Effects of temporal frequency on binocular deficits in amblyopia.
Kosovicheva, A., Ferreira, A., Vera-Diaz, F. A., & Bex, P. J.
Vision Research  (2019) • article link pdf data
Detection of brake lights while distracted: Separating peripheral vision from cognitive load.
Wolfe, B., Sawyer, B. D., Kosovicheva, A., Reimer, B., & Rosenholtz, R.
Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics  (2019) • pdf
Predicting road scenes from brief views of driving video.
Wolfe, B., Fridman, L. Kosovicheva, A., Seppelt, B., Mehler, B., Reimer, B., & Rosenholtz, R.
Journal of Vision (2019) • pdf
Binocular temporal visual processing in myopia.
Vera-Diaz, F. A., Bex, P. J., Ferreira, A., & Kosovicheva, A.
Journal of Vision (2018) • pdfdata
Serial dependence in position occurs at the time of perception.
Manassi, M., Liberman, A., Kosovicheva, A., Zhang, K., & Whitney, D.
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review (2018) • pdf
Unifying visual space across the left and right hemifields.
Chen, Z.*, Kosovicheva, A.*, Wolfe, B. A., Cavanagh, P., Gorea, A., & Whitney, D.
Psychological Science (2018)  • pdf data and materials
(*co-first authors)
Stable individual signatures in object localization.
Kosovicheva, A., & Whitney, D.
Current Biology (2017) • pdf
Fast ensemble representations for abstract visual impressions.
Yamanashi Leib, A. Y., Kosovicheva, A., & Whitney, D.
Nature Communications (2016) • pdf
Age-related differences in the legibility of degraded text.
Wolfe, B., Dobres, J., Kosovicheva, A., Rosenholtz, R., & Reimer, B.
Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications (2016) • pdf
Foveal input is not required for perception of crowd facial expression.
Wolfe, B. A., Kosovicheva, A. A., Yamanashi Leib, A., Wood, K. & Whitney, D.
Journal of Vision (2015) • pdf
Visual motion shifts saccade targets.
Kosovicheva, A. A., Wolfe, B. A., & Whitney, D.
Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics (2014) • pdf
Cholinergic enhancement reduces orientation-specific surround suppression but not visual crowding.
Kosovicheva, A. A., Sheremata, S. L., Rokem, A., Landau, A. N. & Silver, M. A.
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience (2012)  • pdf
The motion-induced shift in the perceived location of a grating also shifts its aftereffect.
Kosovicheva, A. A., Maus, G. W., Anstis, S. Cavanagh, P., Tse, P. U., & Whitney, D.
Journal of Vision (2012)  • pdf
Where does attention go when it moves?: Spatial properties and locus of the attentional repulsion effect.
Kosovicheva, A. A., Fortenbaugh, F. C., & Robertson, L. C.
Journal of Vision (2010) • pdf
Note: The pdf reprints are protected by copyright laws, and are available only for personal, research use. Any other use is prohibited.

Press

Driving video still

"What the distracted-driving narrative gets wrong."
MIT CSAIL (June 24, 2019).
Referencing Detection of brake lights while distracted: Separating peripheral vision from cognitive load (Wolfe, Sawyer, Kosovicheva, & Reimer, B., Rosenholtz, R, 2019).

Individual localization errors

"Do you see what I see? Probably not."
News@Northeastern (August 30, 2017).
Referencing Stable individual signatures in object localization (Kosovicheva & Whitney, 2017).

Animacy stimuli

"It takes less than a second to tell humans from androids."
Berkeley News (November 28, 2016).
Referencing Fast ensemble representations for abstract visual impressions (Yamanashi Leib, Kosovicheva, & Whitney, 2016).

Contact

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