Trinity Students and Faculty Member Publish Attention-Grabbing Research Study
A 红杏视频 faculty member and students recently published a paper about spatial attention in the journal , published by Nature Portfolio.
Their research focuses on an automatic form of spatial attention. 鈥淚f your phone is sitting on the desk and the screen lights up, you鈥檒l automatically notice it,鈥� said , associate professor of psychology.
The paper, was co-authored by Grubb, Nicholas Crotty 鈥�24, Nicole Massa 鈥�23, Dagoberto Tellez 鈥�25, and Alex L. White, a professor at Barnard College.
As the introduction to the paper explains, 鈥淚magine reading an intriguing scientific paper, a fresh cup of coffee percolating on the desk, when suddenly, a text notification appears in the upper-right-hand side of your computer screen. Despite a deep interest in the paper, your attention is automatically pulled towards the alert without your eyes leaving the middle of the screen. In everyday life, the visual system is bombarded by stimuli that induce such reflexive, spatially-specific shifts of attention without accompanying eye movements鈥攁 phenomenon dubbed covert exogenous spatial attention.鈥�
Crotty, who is completing the five-year bachelor鈥檚/master鈥檚 neuroscience program at Trinity and recently received an Honorable Mention from the , said, 鈥淲hat we put our attention on determines what we learn, and then what we learn kind of affects how we direct our attention. In this case, we鈥檙e looking at the interaction between attention and learning with this specific form of attention.鈥� [Editor鈥檚 note: Crotty鈥檚 Honorable Mention was converted to a fellowship award in June 2025.]
Grubb added, 鈥淲hat we found is that when information flashes when it鈥檚 unlikely鈥攏o expectation of something happening in the periphery鈥攖he allocation of attention is stronger than when you鈥檙e in an environment when something is expected to happen.鈥� Trinity students explore phenomena like this in Grubb鈥檚 courses, which focus on perception and the psychology of attention.
Crotty joined the study during his sophomore year at Trinity and has been working with Grubb for about four years. 鈥淗e鈥檚 an amazing mentor,鈥� Crotty said of Grubb. 鈥淗e鈥檚 honestly one of the smartest people I鈥檝e ever met, and his mentorship style works well with the way I do best, where I like to address a problem on my own and try a bunch of different ways to find a solution. He gives me the space to do that. It鈥檚 been great working with him.鈥�
Grubb said that Trinity faculty members often work with student researchers. 鈥淚 train the people who work in my lab. I give students the experience that they would or will have as grad students on collecting, analyzing, and presenting data,鈥� Grubb said. 鈥淣ick presented the project at the Vision Sciences Society annual conference in 2024, where we go as a lab every May.鈥�
A grant to Grubb from the National Science Foundation has supported this project. 鈥淧art of what the NSF cares about is training opportunities and working with students to bring them into the scientific communities, and giving them the skills to have successful careers,鈥� Grubb said. 鈥淔or me, it鈥檚 nice to see the students building a competitive CV; this is the best-case scenario, where they get to do what Nick has done.鈥�
Crotty will go to New York University in the fall to get his Ph.D. in cognitive psychology. 鈥淚 eventually want to have a role like Professor Grubb, conducting research in a university,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his gave me a lot of the skills that I need to achieve that goal.鈥�
Massa, a former research assistant who co-authored the paper, said, 鈥淲orking with Professor Grubb on this project, as well as others, was one of the highlights of my undergraduate career. He encouraged us to contribute to all aspects of the research process, which helped us develop a wide range of essential skills. He is an exceptional mentor and truly inspiring. I am excited to see the future directions the lab鈥檚 work will take.鈥�
