ALESSANDRA SOUZA

Principal Investigator

Alessandra Souza's research focuses on the factors limiting our ability to process information for ongoing use. In her research, she uses behavioral measures, eye-tracking, and computational modeling to examine: (1) how we create, maintain, and manipulate representations in working memory; (2) why we forget information over the short-term and whether we can take active measures to prevent it (e.g., by rehearsing it); (3) how attention is used to prioritize information (e.g., retro-cue benefit); (4) executive functions: inhibition, task-switching, and updating of working memory contents, and (5) the development of cognition with age, from childhood to healthy aging.

You can find more about Alessandra Souza in ResearchGate

Selected publications

• Maniglia, M. R., & Souza, A. S. (2020). Age differences in the efficiency of filtering and ignoring distraction in visual working memory. Brain Sciences, 10(8), Article 556. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10080556
• Souza, A. S., Czoschke, S., & Lange, E. B. (2020). Gaze-based and attention-based rehearsal in spatial working memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 46, 980–1003. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000771
• Loaiza, V. M., & Souza, A. S. (2019). An age-related deficit in preserving the benefits of attention in working memory. Psychology and Aging, 34, 282-293. https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000326
• Rey-Mermet, A., Gade, M., Souza, A. S., von Bastian, C., & Oberauer, K. (2019). Is executive control related to working memory capacity and fluid intelligence? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 148, 1335-1372. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000593
• Oschwald, J., Schättin, A., von Bastian, C., & Souza, A. S. (2018). Bidialectalism and bilingualism: Exploring the role of language similarity as a link between linguistic ability and executive control. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, Article 1997. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01997
• Souza, A. S., & Oberauer, K. (2018). Does articulatory rehearsal help immediate serial recall? Cognitive Psychology, 107, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2018.09.002
• Souza, A. S., & Skóra, Z. (2017). The interplay of language and visual perception in working memory. Cognition, 166, 277-297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2017.05.038
• Souza, A. S. (2016). No age deficits in the ability to use attention to improve visual working memory. Psychology and Aging, 31, 456-470. https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000107
• von Bastian, C., Souza, A. S., & Gade, M. (2016). No evidence for bilingual cognitive advantages: A test of four hypotheses. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 145, 246-258. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000120
• Souza, A. S., & Oberauer, K. (2016). In search of the focus of attention in working memory: 13 years of the retro-cue effect. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 78, 1839-1860. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-016-1108-5