Associate Professor Stefanie Becker is a cognitive psychologist at the School of Psychology, University of Queensland , where she has been employed since 2007. Her research focuses on attention, visual search, and the relational account of attentional guidance using EEG, fMRI, and eye-tracking. She was awarded a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Bielefeld (Germany) in 2007, receiving the National German Dissertation Award. Education: PhD in Cognitive Psychology/Experimental Psychology, University of Bielefeld, Germany (2007) Research Interests: Relational account of attention (guidance by relative features such as 'reddest', 'darkest') Emotion and attention dynamics (e.g., processing of emotional faces) Inattentional blindness and awareness Visual working memory and attentional interference Neural mechanisms of visual search Article Trends: Her recent work (2023-2025) explores how relational features guide attention independently of context, the role of consciousness in emotional face capture, and interactions between attentional selection and visual working memory. Earlier studies (2016-2022) investigate EEG clustering techniques, spatial attention modulation by task-relevancy, and the balance between bottom-up and top-down processes in visual search. Scientific Awards: National German Dissertation Award (2007) UQ Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2009-2018) Supervision: She supervises and has completed several PhD and Master’s projects on attentional templates, emotional face processing, visual working memory, and sensory substitution. Students include Aimee Martin, James D. Retell, and others. Labs/Teams: Becker leads the Centre for Perception and Cognitive Neuroscience at UQ, collaborating on interdisciplinary projects involving cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and computational methods.








