Elizabeth T. Davis

Associate Professor of Psychology

Brief Bio

I began my study of visual processes as a grad student at Columbia University in New York City. There I found that rigorous quantitative models could be applied to visual processing of so-called spatial frequency channels -- channels in early human vision that do a crude Fourier analysis of visual scenes. I was captivated by the elegance of these models and how one could derive various predictions about visual perception from them, including how we handle uncertainty about what to look for or why certain visual illusions may occur. (For instance, as contrast of a visual grating changes, so does the perceived size of its bars.)

Many years later I find myself living in Atlanta, along with my husband Ron and our family of crazy cats. Yet, I am still fascinated with how the human visual system works, how computational models coupled with empirical studies may reveal the underlying mechanisms, and how this knowledge can be applied to practical problems in everyday life.

Research Interests

My research has both a basic and an applied flavor.

The basic research extends our understanding of how humans process perceptual information about whether something is there, what it is, and where it is. Specifically, I study the interface between perception and attention by comparing predictions derived from competing models to the actual behavioral data. This interface between perception and attention is a key factor in visual perception, cognitive neuroscience, and applied research on display design and HCI program visualizations.

The applied research uses the knowledge gained from basic research to predict, control, and enhance human perception and performance in human computer interaction (HCI) settings -- providing yet another testbed for the models.

Affiliations

●American Psychological Association
●American Psychological Society
●Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
     -HFES Perception and Performance Program
      Chair 2002-2003
     -HFES Perception and Performance Technical
      Group Chair-Elect 2004-2005
     -HFES Perception and Performance Technical
      Group Chair 2006-2007
●Member of the Graphics, Visualization, and Usability (GVU)
    Center
     -Past GVU Co-Director of Internal Affairs
●New York Academy of Science
●Pi Mu Epsilon (mathematics honor society)
●Psychonomic Society
●Sigma Xi
●Visual Sciences Society