Elan Barenholtz

Research Area: Visual Perception

Contact Information:
Office: 211 Behavioral Science
Telephone: (561) 297-3433
Fax: (561) 297-3360
E-mail: elan.barenholtz AT fau.edu

General Research Interests

When we look out at the world we seem to perceive an instantaneous 'photograph' that is stable and complete. This is an illusion. At any given time our visual system can only process a tiny fraction of the information that is entering the brain through the eyes. One theme of my current research is concerned with how we perceive and remember large and complex visual scenes, such as a cluttered room or a busy street. How is the enormous load of information compressed into a form that our minds can use? How does this 'global' perception enable us to recognize individual items such as people and objects? In my lab, I use psychophysical methods to address these and other question in vision science.

Representative Publications

Reconsidering the role of structure in vision (2007). In The Psychology of Learning and Motivation, Vol. 47., Markman, A., & Ross, B. (Eds.).

Detection of change in shape: an advantage for concavities. Barenholtz, E., Cohen, E., Feldman, J. and Singh, M. (2003). Cognition, 89(1), 1-9.

Links: Lab Website