Department of Psychology

Melissa R. Beck

Assistant Professor

Cognitive/Developmental Area

209 Audubon Hall,
Department of Psychology,
Louisiana State University,
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Phone:(225)-578-7214
fax:(225)-578-4125

mbeck@lsu.edu

Click here to view my VITA.

EDUCATION:

2005-2006 National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Naval Research Laboratory

2003-2006 Postdoctoral Fellowship George Mason University, Fairfax, VA

2003 Ph.D., Cognitive Experimental Psychology, Kent State University

1998 B.A., Psychology, Ohio University, Athens Ohio

TEACHING:

Sensation and Perception (PSYC 4031)

Undergraduate Practicum and Research (PSYC 2999/4999)

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

The research in my laboratory focuses on understanding the cognitive processes involved in the perception of a complete and continuous visual world. To this end, the research in my lab focuses on the following more specific areas.

The roles of memory, attention, and decision making in visual perception

The effects of visual changes in the environment on psychophysical and behavioral measures of performance

Using eye movements to measure the role of attention during visual perception

The influence of previous knowledge and expectations on visual processing

The role of metacognitive beliefs in visual perception

Cognitive modeling of visual processing

The application of human visual processing capacities and limits to the design of robot and computer interfaces

RECENT PUBLICATIONS:

Peterson, M.S., Beck, M.R., & Vomela, M. (in press). The guidance of attention by retrospective and prospective memory during visual search. Perception and Psychophysics.

Beck, M.R., Peterson, M.S., & Angelone, B.A. (in press). The roles of encoding, retrieval, and awareness in change detection. Memory and Cognition.

Beck, M. R., Levin, D.T. & Angelone, B.A. (in press) Metacognitive errors in change detection: Lab and life converge. Consciousness and Cognition.

Beck, M. R., Levin, D.T. & Angelone, B.A. (in press) Change blindness blindness: Beliefs about the roles of intention and scene complexity in change detection. Consciousness and Cognition.

Beck, M. R., Peterson, M.S., Boot, W.R., Vomela, M. & Kramer, A.K. (2006) Explicit Memory for Rejected Distractors During Visual Search. Visual Cognition, 14(2), 150-174.

Beck, M.R., Peterson, M.S. & Vomela, M. (2006). Memory for where, but not what, is used during visual search. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 32(2), 235-250.

Beck, M. R., Angelone, B.A., & Levin, D. T. (2004). Knowledge about the probability of change affects change detection performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 30(4), 778-791.

Levin, D. T. & Beck, M. R. (2004). Thinking about seeing: Spanning the differences between metacognitive failure and success. In Daniel Levin (Ed) Thinking about seeing: Visual metacognition in adults and children. (pp. 121 – 144). Cambridge MA: MIT Press.

Beck, M. R. & Levin, D. T. (2003). The role of representational volatility in recognizing pre- and postchange objects. Perception and Psychophysics, 65(3), 458-468.

Levin, D.T., Drivdahl, S., Momen, N, Beck, M. (2002). False predictions about the detectablility of visual changes: The role of beliefs about attention, memory, and the continuity of attended objects in causing change blindness blindness. Consciousness and Congnition, 11, 507-527.

Zaragoza, M. S., Payment, K. E., Ackil, J.K., Drivdahl, S. B., & Beck, M. R. (2001). Interviewing witnesses: Forced confabulation and confirmatory feedback increase false memories. Psychological Science, 12(6), 473-477.

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