Marisa Carrasco

Professor Carrasco received her doctorate from Princeton University in 1989. Her dissertation dealt with the relationship between spatial resolution and temporal sensitivity properties of the human visual system. Before coming to NYU, she was an assistant professor at Wesleyan University, CT. Her research aims to understand the relationship between the psychological and physiological mechanisms involved in the basic processes of visual perception and attention. The theoretical framework for Prof. Carrasco’s research draws from work in perception, cognitive psychology, and neurophysiology. The methodology is based on visual psychophysics. Her current research has two goals: First, to develop a model of visual search that takes into account known sensory factors, such as spatial resolution and lateral inhibition, and attentional mechanisms thought to facilitate the processing of relevant information by enhancing its perceptual representation and/or improving decisional mechanisms. Second, to characterize the attentional mechanisms that affect early visual processing.