Michael A. Grubb, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychology
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program
Trinity College
Hartford, CT
Very broadly, my research addresses how we perceive the physical world in which we are embedded. Every waking moment our senses are bombarded with information, far too much for the brain to process and render for conscious awareness. We overcome this challenge by selectively attending to the world, that is, by prioritizing the processing of some kinds of sensory information, at the expense of others, in ways that facilitate goal-directed behavior. Visual attention can be allocated voluntarily, through eye movements (overt attention) or cognitive effort (covert endogenous attention), or its allocation can be elicited reflexively in response to stimuli in the physical world (exogenous attention). My lab uses eye-tracking and psychophysical methods to quantify the impact of selective attention on perceptual processes, to characterize the ways in which different kinds of attention jointly modulate perception, and to investigate additional factors that play a role in shaping our subjective experiences of the world.
Current Lab Members
Nick Crotty, 2024
Research Assistant & Senior Thesis Research
Majors: Neuroscience & Interdisciplinary Computing
Matt Parrella, 2025
Research Assistant
Majors: Neuroscience, Psychology & WMGS
Isshori Gurung, 2025
Research Assistant
Majors: Neuroscience & Anthropology
Alenka Doyle, 2026
ISP Research Apprentice & Research Assistant
Kamilla Volkova, 2026
ISP Research Apprentice & Research Assistant
Lab Alumni
Nicole Massa, 2023
Research Assistant & Senior Thesis Research
Majors: Psychology & Neuroscience
Now: Clinical research coordinator at Massachusetts General Hospital
Dagoberto Tellez, 2025
ISP Research Apprentice
Jack Albanese, 2021
ISP Research Apprentice & Research Assistant
Major: Neuroscience
Gabriela N. Christensen, 2021
ISP Research Apprentice & Research Assistant
Major: Neuroscience
Devin Butler, 2019
Research Assistant & Senior Thesis Research
Major: Psychology
Now: PhD Student
Department of Psychology
University of Maryland
Patty Gaitan, 2019
Research Assistant & Senior Thesis Research
Major: Neuroscience
Now: Research Coordinator
Department of Neurology
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Erin Gannon, 2019
Research Assistant & Senior Thesis Research
Major: Psychology & Film Studies
Carty Campbell, 2018
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Summer Research Program
Major: Psychology
Effie Li, 2017
Senior Thesis Research
Major: Psychology & Computer Science
Now: PhD Student
Department of Psychology
Stanford University
Benjamin Liske, 2020
Research Apprentice
Interdisciplinary Science Program
Kalsang Sherpa, 2020
Research Apprentice
Interdisciplinary Science Program