people

Curriculum Vita
Fred Rhodewalt Social Psychology Winter Conference
Dynamic Vision Group
Visual Perception and Spatial Cognition Research

Research Interests

My research focuses on better understanding if a person’s bodily states, whether emotional, physiological, or physical, and their bodily size modulates their perception of spatial layout (e.g., distance, slopes, height, and size). To conduct this research, I gather data in the outdoors in natural settings, indoors in hallways or buildings, and in virtual environments. This work is transformational in nature because it weds seemingly disparate fields of study: research on emotion and health and perception of the environment.

Opportunities For Students

I am accepting graduate students for the fall of 2013. Please email me if you have questions about our application process.

Education

Ph.D., University of Virginia (Psychology, 2006)
M.S., University of Virginia (Psychology, 2004)
B.A., University of Virginia (Psychology & Cognitive Science, 1999)

Selected Publications

Stefanucci, J. K., Gagnon, K. T., Tompkins, C., Bullock, K. E. (2012). Plunging into the pool of death: Imagining a dangerous outcome influences distance perception. Perception, 41, 1-11.

Stefanucci, J. K., Gagnon, K. T., & Lessard, D. (2011). Follow your heart: Emotion adaptively influences perception. Social Psychology and Personality Compass, 5/6, 296-308.

Stefanucci, J. K., & Geuss, M. (2010). Duck! Scaling the height of a horizontal barrier to body height. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 72, 1338-1349.

Stefanucci, J. K., & Geuss, M. (2009). Big people, little world: The body influences size perception. Perception, 38, 1782-1795.

Stefanucci, J. K., & Proffitt, D. R. (2009). The roles of altitude and fear in the perception of heights. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, 35, 424-438.

Stefanucci, J. K., & Storbeck, J. (2009). Don’t look down: Emotional arousal elevates height perception. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 138, 131-145.

Thompson, W. B., Fleming, R. W., Creem-Regehr, S. H., & Stefanucci, J. K. (2011). Visual Perception from a Computer Graphics Perspective, New York: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group. Download

My current graduate students

Michael Geuss
Kyle Gagnon
David Lessard