E-mail: smcmains@princeton.edu

Education:

B.S., Cognitive Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 1999.
MA, Psychology, Brain Behavior and Cognition Program, Boston University, Boston, MA, May 2004.
Ph.D., Psychology, Brain Behavior and Cognition Program, Boston University, Boston, MA, Jan. 2006

Research Interests:

My research focuses on the neural mechanisms of human visual perception and attention using both psychophysics and functional magnetic resonance imaging. In particular, I am interested in how bottom-up stimulus driven processes interact with top-down goal directed processes in order to select relevant information from our cluttered environment.

Curriculum Vitae [pdf]

Publications:

McMains SA and Kastner, S (2009) Defining the units of competition: Gestalt principles modulate competitive interactions in human visual cortex. J Cog Neurosci, in press.

Kastner S, McMains SA, Beck DM (2009) Attention mechanisms in the human visual system: Evidence from neuroimaging. In: Gazzaniga MS (ed.) The Cognitive Neurosciences, MIT press, pp. 205-217.

*Arcaro MJ, *McMains SA, Singer BD, Kastner S (2007) Retinotopic organization of the human ventral visual cortex. J Neurosci 29: 10638-10652. *both authors contributed equally to this study.

McMains SA, Fehd HM, Emmanouli TA, Kastner S (2007) Mechanisms of feature and space-based attention: Response modulation and baseline increases. J Neurophys 98: 2110-2121.

Kastner S, McMains SA (2007) News & Views: Out of the spotlight: Face to face with attention. Nat Neurosci 10: 1344-1345.

McMains SA, Krum KE, Swisher JD, Somers DC (2005) Human fronto-parietal circuitry for 'split spotlight' and 'zoom lens' visual spatial attention. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts

McMains SA, Somers DC (2005) Processing efficiency of divided spatial attention mechanisms in human visual cortex. J Neurosci 25:41, 9444-8.

McMains SA, Somers DC (2004) Multiple spotlights of attentional selection in human visual cortex. Neuron 42:4, 677-86.