Staff profile

I have joined the Department of Psychology at Durham University in 2016. Prior to this, I studied experimental psychology at the Universities of Bern (lic.phil.hum.) and Fribourg (PhD) in Switzerland and spent six years as a post-doctoral research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London.

My work

I am an experimental psychologist whose research is focused on understanding the cognitive and neuronal underpinnings of visual selective attention. In our complex visual world, multiple objects compete for perception and action control. Selective attention determines which of these objects are processed preferentially at any given moment in time. Importantly, object relevance can be determined by our personal task goals and selection intentions. If we search for a particular object (e.g., banana on the fruit shelf), we use mental object representations held in memory (attentional target templates) to guide attention to template-matching objects in the visual field (e.g., yellow objects). The temporal and organisational properties of such interactions between memory (knowing what to look for) and attention (detecting a sought-for object) are at the core of my research. In my experiments I combine behavioural and electrophysiological (EEG/ERPs) measures to track memory-guided attention across time and space.

• Key words:
• Visual cognition
• Memory-guided selective attention
• Attentional templates
• Electroencephalography (EEG)
• Event-related potentials (ERPs)

• Cognitive Neuroscience

• 2021: A Neuro-cognitive Model Of Memory-guided Visual Attention(£478801.77 from Leverhulme Trust)
• 2019: Working memory capacity limitations during attentional guidance(£3500.00 from Experimental Psychology Society)

• 0000: British Psychological Society (BPS): British Psychological Society (BPS)
• 0000: Experimental Psychology Society (EPS): Experimental Psychology Society (EPS)
• 0000: Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA): Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
• 0000: Society for Psychophysiological Research (SPR): Society for Psychophysiological Research (SPR)
• 0000: Vision Sciences Society (VSS): Vision Sciences Society (VSS)

Journal Article

• Kerzel, Dirk & Grubert, Anna (2022). Capacity limitations in template-guided multiple color search. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 29(3): 901-909.
• Grubert, Anna & Eimer, Martin (2020). Preparatory Template Activation during Search for Alternating Targets. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 32(8): 1-11.
• Horstmann, Gernot, Becker, Stefanie I. & Grubert, Anna (2020). Dwelling on simple stimuli in visual search. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics 82(2): 607-625.
• Kerzel, D., Barras, C. & Grubert, A. (2018). Suppression of salient stimuli inside the focus of attention. Biological Psychology 139: 106-114.
• Grubert, A. & Eimer, M. (2018). The time course of target template activation processes during preparation for visual search. The Journal of Neuroscience 38(44): 9527-9538.
• Jenkins, Michael, Grubert, Anna & Eimer, Martin (2018). Category-based attentional guidance can operate in parallel for multiple target objects. Biological Psychology 135: 211-219.
• Jenkins, M., Grubert, A. & Eimer, M. (2018). The speed of voluntary and priority-driven shifts of visual attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 44(1): 27-37.
• Jenkins, M., Grubert, A. & Eimer, M. (2017). Target objects defined by a conjunction of colour and shape can be selected independently and in parallel. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics 79(8): 2310-2326.
• Fahrenfort, Johannes Jacobus, Grubert, Anna, Olivers, Christian N. L. & Eimer, Martin (2017). Multivariate EEG analyses support high-resolution tracking of feature-based attentional selection. Scientific Reports 7: 1886, 1-15.
• Katus, T., Grubert, A. & Eimer, M. (2017). Intermodal attention shifts in multimodal working memory. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 29(4): 628-636.
• Grubert, A., Fahrenfort, J., Olivers, C.N.L. & Eimer, M. (2017). Rapid top-down control over template-guided attention shifts to multiple objects. NeuroImage 146: 843-858.
• Grubert, A., Carlisle, N.B. & Eimer, M. (2016). The control of single-color and multiple-color visual search by attentional templates in working memory and in long-term memory. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 28(12): 1947-1963.
• Grubert, A. & Eimer, M. (2016). Rapid attentional selection processes operate independently and in parallel for multiple targets. Biological Psychology 121(Part A): 99-108.
• Nako, R., Grubert, A. & Eimer, M. (2016). Category-based guidance of spatial attention during visual search for feature conjunctions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 42(10): 1571-1686.
• Jenkins, M., Grubert, A. & Eimer, M. (2016). Rapid parallel attentional selection can be controlled by shape and alphanumerical category. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 28(11): 1672-1687.
• Grubert, A. & Eimer, M. (2016). All set, indeed! N2pc components reveal simultaneous attentional control settings for multiple target colors. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 42(8): 1215-1230.
• Schönhammer, J.G., Grubert, A., Kerzel, D. & Becker, S.I. (2016). Attentional guidance by relative features: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence. Psychophysiology 53(7): 1074-1083.
• Grubert, A. & Eimer, M. (2016). The speed of serial attention shifts in visual search: Evidence from the N2pc component. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 28(2): 319-332.
• Lagroix, H.E., Grubert, A., Spalek, T.M., Di Lollo, V. & Eimer, M. (2015). Visual search is postponed during the period of the AB: An event-related potential study. Psychophysiology 52(8): 1031-1038.
• Huber-Huber, C., Grubert, A., Ansorge, U. & Eimer, M. (2015). Nasotemporal ERP differences: evidence for increased inhibition of temporal distractors. Journal of Neurophysiology 113(7): 2210-2219.
• Grubert, A. & Eimer, M. (2015). Rapid parallel attentional target selection in single-color and multiple-color visual search. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 41(1): 86-101.
• Eimer, M. & Grubert, A. (2015). A dissociation between selective attention and conscious awareness in the representation of temporal order information. Consciousness and Cognition 35: 274-281.
• Grubert, A. & Eimer, M. (2015). Does visual working memory represent the predicted locations of future target objects? An event-related brain potential study. Brain Research 1626: 258-266.
• Katus, T., Grubert, A. & Eimer, M. (2015). Electrophysiological evidence for a sensory recruitment model of somatosensory working memory. Cerebral Cortex 25(12): 4697-4703.
• Becker, Si.I., Grubert, A. & Dux, P.E. (2014). Distinct neural networks for target feature versus dimension changes in visual search, as revealed by EEG and fMRI. NeuroImage 102(Part 2): 798-808.
• Grubert, A., Indino, M. & Krummenacher, J. (2014). From features to dimensions: cognitive and motor development in pop-out search in children and young adults. Frontiers in Psychology 5: 519.
• Krummenacher, J., Grubert, A., Töllner, T. & Müller, H.J. (2014). Salience-based integration of redundant signals in visual pop-out search: evidence from behavioral and electrophysiological measures. Journal of Vision 14(3): 26.
• Eimer, M. & Grubert, A. (2014). Spatial attention can be allocated rapidly and in parallel to new visual objects. Current Biology 24(2): 193-198.
• Eimer, M. & Grubert, A. (2014). The gradual emergence of spatially selective target processing in visual search: From feature-specific to object-based attentional control. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 40(5): 1819-1831.
• Grubert, A., Schmid, P. & Krummenacher, J. (2013). Happy with a difference, unhappy with an identity: observers' mood determines processing depth in visual search. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics 75(1): 41-52.
• Kiss, M., Grubert, A. & Eimer, M. (2013). Top-down task sets for combined features: behavioral and electrophysiological evidence for two stages in attentional object selection. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics 75(2): 216-228.
• Grubert, A. & Eimer, M. (2013). Qualitative differences in the guidance of attention during single-color and multiple-color visual search: behavioral and electrophysiological evidence. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 39(5): 1433-1442.
• Grubert, A., Righi, L.L. & Eimer, M. (2013). A unitary focus of spatial attention during attentional capture: Evidence from event-related brain potentials. Journal of Vision 13(3): 9, 1-11.
• Kiss, M., Grubert, A., Petersen, A. & Eimer, M. (2012). Attentional capture by salient distractors during visual search is determined by temporal task demands. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 24(3): 749-759.
• Grubert, A., Krummenacher, J. & Eimer, M. (2011). Redundancy gains in pop-out visual search are determined by top-down task set: behavioral and electrophysiological evidence. Journal of Vision 11(14): 10, 1-10.
• Krummenacher, J., Grubert, A. & Müller, H.J. (2010). Inter-trial and redundant-signals effects in visual search and discrimination tasks: separable pre-attentive and post-selective effects. Vision Research 50(14): 1382-1395.
• Sayim, B., Grubert, A., Herzog, M.H. & Krummenacher J. (2010). Display probability modulates attentional capture by onset distractors. Journal of Vision 10(3): 10, 1-8.