Anna Kosovicheva | University of Toronto Mississauga

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

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.

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.

Publications

2023

Spatial variability in localization biases predicts crowding performance.
Wolfe, B., Haseeb, Z., Wolfe, B., & Kosovicheva, A.
Journal of Vision (2023) • • data and materials

2022

Taking prevalence effects on the road: Rare hazards are often missed.
Kosovicheva, A., Wolfe, J. M., & Wolfe, B.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences (2022) • pdf

Normal blindness: when we Look But Fail To See.
Wolfe, J. M., Kosovicheva, A., & Wolfe, B.
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review (2022) • pdf • data and materials

2021

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) • pdf • data and materials

Gravitational effects of scene information in object localization.
Kosovicheva, A. & Bex, P. J.
Scientific Reports (2021) • pdf • data and materials

2020

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 link • pdf • data and materials

2019

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

2018

Binocular temporal visual processing in myopia.
Vera-Diaz, F. A., Bex, P. J., Ferreira, A., & Kosovicheva, A.
Journal of Vision (2018) • pdf • data

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)

2017

Stable individual signatures in object localization.
Kosovicheva, A., & Whitney, D.
Current Biology (2017) • pdf

2016

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

2015 and earlier

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

"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).

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

"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).

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