Khena M. Swallow

Associate Professor and Director, Cognitive Science Program

Research Focus

Although experience is relatively continuous, some moments in time are more important for behavior and understanding than others. What defines these moments? How do they in turn influence cognition and perception? To address these questions I use behavioral, eye tracking, and MRI data to study the relationship between the perceived structure of events and how people attend to and remember them. Current projects include examining (1) how attending to behaviorally relevant moments in time impacts attention and memory, (2) how people perceive and remember everyday events, and (3) how people learn and use information about when important events are likely to occur.