Dr Anna Nowakowska

I have completed my PhD at the University of Aberdeen investigating visual search strategies under normal viewing conditions and under conditions that simulate visual field deficit (hemianopia).

Following my PhD, I worked for a year as a research assistant in a reaching and grasping lab at the University of Aberdeen investigating material properties in vision and action.

Next, I held a Postdoctoral Research Fellow post, also in Aberdeen, examining visual search strategies in healthy observers.

I joined School of Psychology and Vision Sciences at the University of Leicester as an Early Career Fellow in June 2023. 

My interests fall at the intersection of perception and attention and include selective attention, individual differences in visual search strategies, external and internal determinants of search strategy, individual differences in decision making and the role of expertise. 

Publications:

Clarke, A.D.F., Sauerberger, K., Nowakowska, A., Rosenbaum, D.A., Zentall, T.R. & Hunt, A.R. (in-principal, stage one acceptance). Does precrastination explain why some observers are sub-optimal in a visual search task? A pre-registered report. Royal Society Open Science

Clarke, A.D.F., Nowakowska, A. & Hunt, A.R. (2022). Visual search habits and the spatial structure of scenes. Attention, Perception and Psychophysics, 84, 1874–1885 (2022). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-022-02506-2

Nowakowska, A., Clarke, A.D.F., von Seth, J., & Hunt, A.R. (2021). Search strategies improve with practice, but not with time pressure or financial incentives. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 47, 1009-1021.  https://psyarxiv.com/wuqtx/

Giesel, M., Nowakowska, A., Harris, J.M. et al. (2020). Perceptual uncertainty and action consequences independently affect hand movements in a virtual environment.  Scientific Reports, 10, 22307 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-78378-z

Clarke, A.D.F., Nowakowska, A.M. & Hunt, A.R. (2019). Beyond salience and guidance: the role of bias and decision in visual search. Special issue of Vision on Eye Movements and Visual Cognition (R.M. Klein & S. Liversedge, eds). Vision, 3(3), 46.

Nowakowska, A., Clarke, A.D.F., Sahraie, A., & Hunt, A.R. (2019). Practice-related changes in eye movement strategy in healthy adults with simulated hemianopia. Neuropsychologia.

Nowakowska, A., Clarke, A.D.F., & Hunt, A. R. (2017). Human visual search is far from ideal. Proceedings of the Royal Society: B, 284, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2016.2767

Nowakowska, A., Clarke, A.D.F., Sahraie, A., & Hunt, A. R (2016). Inefficient search strategies in simulated hemianopia. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 42, 1858-1872

Following a press release about my publication in Proceedings in the Royal Society B (2017), me and my colleagues were invited by The Conversation to write a public-interest description of the work, and many science journalists contacted us and wrote about our findings (including in Seeker, The Independent, New York Magazine, The New York Times, and The International Business Times).

I would be happy to discuss topics relating to my core areas of expertise in eye movement guidance during visual search.