Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience: visual attention, eyetracking, threat-perception, implicit biases, race-based biases, and trait anxiety
Elizabeth is a doctoral student in the Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience program under Dr. Matthew Peterson. She received her Bachelors of Science in Psychology with a minor in Neuroscience in Spring 2015 and her Master of Arts in Psychology with a concentration in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience (Accelerated MA program) in Spring 2016, both from George Mason University. Elizabeth’s research interests include attention, threat-perception, implicit race-based biases, and anxiety. Currently, she is investigating the role of anxiety and threat-perception in race-based attentional biases, as well as the effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on patterns of visual attention in response to threatening images.
Azarian, S.B., Buzzell, G.A., Esser, E.G., Dornstauder, A., & Peterson, M.S. (2017). Averted body postures facilitate orienting of the eyes. Acta Psychologica, 175, 28-32.
Azarian, B., Esser, E. G., & Peterson, M. S. (2015a). Evidence from the eyes: Threatening postures hold attention. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. http://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-015-0942-0
Azarian, B., Esser, E. G., & Peterson, M. S. (2015b). Watch out! Directional threat-related postures cue attention and the eyes. Cognition and Emotion, 1–9. http://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2015.1013089
PSYC 309 Lab: Sensation & Perception
PSYC 317: Cognitive Psychology
PSYC 301: Research Methods in Psychology
Esser-Adomako, E.G., Mead, P., Kelly, S., & Peterson, M.S. (2019, May). Contextual Relearning Following Target Relocation in Visual Search. Poster presented at Vision Sciences Society (VSS) Annual Meeting, St. Pete Beach, Florida.
Esser, E.G. & Peterson, M.S. (2016, November). Effects of Anxiety on Attentional Disengagement from Neutral Faces of Other Races. Poster was presented at Object Perception, Attention, and Memory (OPAM) Annual Conference, Boston, Massachusetts.