Dr Daniel Pearson

Dr Daniel Pearson

Research Associate
Science
School of Psychology

Dr Daniel Pearson is a cognitive psychologist whose research examines the influence of learned experience (i.e., selection history) on perception, selective attention, and cognitive control. Daniel is interested in understanding the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying visual cognition, with a view to applying these findings to real world contexts (e.g., designing alerts and warnings to rapidly capture attention) as well as to further our understanding of psychopathology (e.g., understanding how attention to reward-related cues interacts with substance use disorders and psychosis).

After completing a PhD and Master of Psychology (Clinical) at UNSW in 2019, Daniel accepted a post-doctoral position at the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, where he worked on projects investigating the influence of perceptual and cognitive capacity on attention and stimulus detection. Daniel has been working at UNSW since 2020 and current projects are focused on understanding why reward-related stimuli (e.g., stimuli related to money, drugs, and desirable food) capture our attention and influence behaviour. 

Phone
+61-2-9385 3828
Location
Room 1008, Mathews Building (F23)
  • Book Chapters | 2019
    Beesley T; Pearson D; Le Pelley M, 2019, 'Chapter 1 Eye Tracking as a Tool for Examining Cognitive Processes', in Biophysical Measurement in Experimental Social Science Research, Elsevier, pp. 1 - 30, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-813092-6.00002-2
    Book Chapters | 2019
    Beesley T; Pearson D; Le Pelley M, 2019, 'Eye Tracking as a Tool for Examining Cognitive Processes', in Foster G (ed.), Biophysical Measurement in Experimental Social Science Research, pp. 1 - 31
    Book Chapters | 2019
    Pearson D; Le Pelley M; Beesley T, 2019, 'Getting Started With Eye Tracking', in Biophysical Measurement in Experimental Social Science Research, Elsevier, pp. 279 - 304, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-813092-6.09990-1
    Book Chapters | 2019
    Pearson D; Le Pelley M; Beesley T, 2019, 'Getting Started With Eye Tracking', in Foster G (ed.), Biophysical Measurement in Experimental Social Science Research, ELSEVIER ACADEMIC PRESS, pp. 279 - 305
  • Journal articles | 2022
    Le Pelley ME; Ung R; Mine C; Most SB; Watson P; Pearson D; Theeuwes J, 2022, 'Reward learning and statistical learning independently influence attentional priority of salient distractors in visual search', Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, vol. 84, pp. 1446 - 1459, http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13414-021-02426-7
    Journal articles | 2022
    Pearson D; Watson P; Albertella L; Le Pelley ME, 2022, 'Attentional economics links value-modulated attentional capture and decision-making', Nature Reviews Psychology, vol. 1, pp. 320 - 333, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s44159-022-00053-z
    Journal articles | 2022
    Watson P; Pavri Y; Le J; Pearson D; Le Pelley ME, 2022, 'Attentional capture by signals of reward persists following outcome devaluation', Learning & memory (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.), vol. 29, pp. 181 - 191, http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/lm.053569.122
    Journal articles | 2021
    Pearson D; Le Pelley M, 2021, 'Reward encourages reactive, goal-directed suppression of attention', , http://dx.doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/prqmg
    Journal articles | 2021
    Pearson D; Pelley MEL, 2021, 'Reward Encourages Reactive, Goal-Directed Suppression of Attention', Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, vol. 47, pp. 1348 - 1364, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000946
    Journal articles | 2021
    Pearson D; Watson P; Le Pelley ME, 2021, 'How do competing influences of selection history interact? A commentary on Luck et al. (2021)', Visual Cognition, vol. 29, pp. 552 - 555, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2021.1912234
    Journal articles | 2021
    Watson P; Pavri Y; Le JT; Pearson D; Le Pelley M, 2021, 'Attentional capture by signals of reward persists following outcome devaluation', , http://dx.doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/2jmpb
    Journal articles | 2021
    Watson P; Vasudevan A; Pearson D; Le Pelley ME, 2021, 'Eating restraint is associated with reduced attentional capture by signals of valuable food reward', Appetite, vol. 159, pp. 105050 - 105050, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2020.105050
    Journal articles | 2020
    Pearson D; Le Pelley ME, 2020, 'Learning to avoid looking: Competing influences of reward on overt attentional selection', Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, vol. 27, pp. 998 - 1005, http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13423-020-01770-3
    Journal articles | 2020
    Pearson D; Watson P; Cheng P; Le Pelley ME, 2020, 'Overt attentional capture by reward-related stimuli overcomes inhibitory suppression.', Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, vol. 46, pp. 489 - 501, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000728
    Journal articles | 2020
    Watson P; Pearson D; Le Pelley M, 2020, 'Reduced attentional capture by reward following an acute dose of alcohol', , http://dx.doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/ydb7u
    Journal articles | 2020
    Watson P; Pearson D; Le Pelley ME, 2020, 'Reduced attentional capture by reward following an acute dose of alcohol', Psychopharmacology, vol. 237, pp. 3625 - 3639, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-020-05641-6
    Journal articles | 2020
    Watson P; Pearson D; Theeuwes J; Most SB; Le Pelley ME, 2020, 'Delayed disengagement of attention from distractors signalling reward', Cognition, vol. 195, pp. 104125 - 104125, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2019.104125
    Journal articles | 2019
    Albertella L; Le Pelley ME; Chamberlain SR; Westbrook F; Fontenelle LF; Segrave R; Lee R; Pearson D; Yücel M, 2019, 'Reward-related attentional capture is associated with severity of addictive and obsessive-compulsive behaviors', Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, vol. 33, pp. 495 - 502, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/adb0000484
    Journal articles | 2019
    Le Pelley ME; Pearson D; Porter A; Yee H; Luque D, 2019, 'Oculomotor capture is influenced by expected reward value but (maybe) not predictiveness', Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, vol. 72, pp. 168 - 181, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2017.1313874
    Journal articles | 2019
    Le Pelley ME; Watson P; Pearson D; Abeywickrama RS; Most SB, 2019, 'Winners and losers: Reward and punishment produce biases in temporal selection', Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition, vol. 45, pp. 822 - 833, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000612
    Journal articles | 2019
    Pearson D; Watson P; Cheng P; Le Pelley M, 2019, 'Overt attentional capture by reward-related stimuli overcomes inhibitory suppression', Journal of Experimental Psychology, vol. 46, http://dx.doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/db9hg
    Journal articles | 2019
    Watson P; Pearson D; Chow M; Theeuwes J; Wiers RW; Most SB; Le Pelley ME, 2019, 'Capture and Control: Working Memory Modulates Attentional Capture by Reward-Related Stimuli', Psychological Science, vol. 30, pp. 1174 - 1185, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0956797619855964
    Journal articles | 2019
    Watson P; Pearson D; Most SB; Theeuwes J; Wiers RW; Le Pelley ME, 2019, 'Attentional capture by Pavlovian reward-signalling distractors in visual search persists when rewards are removed', PLoS ONE, vol. 14, pp. e0226284, http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226284
    Journal articles | 2019
    Watson P; Pearson D; Wiers RW; Le Pelley ME, 2019, 'Prioritizing pleasure and pain: attentional capture by reward-related and punishment-related stimuli', Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, vol. 26, pp. 107 - 113, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2018.12.002
    Journal articles | 2018
    Kennedy BL; Pearson D; Sutton DJ; Beesley T; Most SB, 2018, 'Spatiotemporal competition and task-relevance shape the spatial distribution of emotional interference during rapid visual processing: Evidence from gaze-contingent eye-tracking', Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, vol. 80, pp. 426 - 438, http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13414-017-1448-9
    Journal articles | 2017
    Albertella L; Copeland J; Pearson D; Watson P; Wiers RW; Le Pelley ME, 2017, 'Selective attention moderates the relationship between attentional capture by signals of nondrug reward and illicit drug use', Drug and Alcohol Dependence, vol. 175, pp. 99 - 105, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.01.041
    Journal articles | 2017
    Le Pelley ME; Seabrooke T; Kennedy BL; Pearson D; Most SB, 2017, 'Miss it and miss out: Counterproductive nonspatial attentional capture by task-irrelevant, value-related stimuli', Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, vol. 79, pp. 1628 - 1642, http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13414-017-1346-1
    Journal articles | 2017
    Whitford TJ; Jack BN; Pearson D; Griffiths O; Luque D; Harris AWF; Spencer KM; Le Pelley ME, 2017, 'Neurophysiological evidence of efference copies to inner speech', eLife, vol. 6, http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.28197
    Journal articles | 2016
    Beesley T; Vadillo MA; Pearson D; Shanks DR, 2016, 'Configural learning in contextual cuing of visual search', Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, vol. 42, pp. 1173 - 1185, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xhp0000185
    Journal articles | 2016
    Kennedy B; Pearson D; Sutton D; Beesley T; Most S, 2016, 'Affective penetration of vision: Behavioral and eye-tracking evidence that emotion helps shape perception', Journal of Vision, vol. 16, pp. 1138 - 1138, http://dx.doi.org/10.1167/16.12.1138
    Journal articles | 2016
    Pearson D; Osborn R; Whitford TJ; Failing M; Theeuwes J; Le Pelley ME, 2016, 'Value-modulated oculomotor capture by task-irrelevant stimuli is a consequence of early competition on the saccade map', Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, vol. 78, pp. 2226 - 2240, http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13414-016-1135-2
    Journal articles | 2015
    Beesley T; Nguyen KP; Pearson D; Le Pelley ME, 2015, 'Uncertainty and predictiveness determine attention to cues during human associative learning', Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, vol. 68, pp. 2175 - 2199, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2015.1009919
    Journal articles | 2015
    Beesley T; Pearson D; Le Pelley M, 2015, 'Implicit learning of gaze-contingent events', Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, vol. 22, pp. 800 - 807, http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/s13423-014-0720-4
    Journal articles | 2015
    Beesley T; Vadillo MA; Pearson D; Shanks DR, 2015, 'Pre-exposure of repeated search configurations facilitates subsequent contextual cuing of visual search', Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition, vol. 41, pp. 348 - 362, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000033
    Journal articles | 2015
    Failing M; Nissens T; Pearson D; Le Pelley M; Theeuwes J, 2015, 'Oculomotor capture by stimuli that signal the availability of reward', Journal of Neurophysiology, vol. 114, pp. 2316 - 2327, http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/jn.00441.2015
    Journal articles | 2015
    Le Pelley ME; Pearson D; Griffiths O; Beesley T, 2015, 'When goals conflict with values: Counterproductive attentional and oculomotor capture by reward-related stimuli', Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, vol. 144, pp. 158 - 171, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xge0000037
    Journal articles | 2015
    Pearson D; Donkin C; Tran SC; Most SB; Le Pelley ME, 2015, 'Cognitive control and counterproductive oculomotor capture by reward-related stimuli', Visual Cognition, vol. 23, pp. 41 - 66, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2014.994252
  • Preprints | 2022
    Pearson D; Piao M; Le Pelley M, 2022, Value-modulated attentional capture is augmented by win-related sensory cues, http://dx.doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/8z3fd
    Conference Abstracts | 2016
    Pearson D; Whitford T; Le Pelley M, 2016, 'Learning to attend and ignore: The influence of reward learning on attentional capture and suppression', in PERCEPTION, SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD, Vol. 45, pp. 356 - 356, https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000390215900729&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=891bb5ab6ba270e68a29b250adbe88d1