David Fencsik Faculty Profile

My research investigates human visual attention and working memory, that is how the visual system extracts information from the environment and stores it for short periods of time. I also investigate how anxiety and other traits and conditions can impact these processes.

• PhD Psychology, University of Michigan
• MA Statistics, University of Michigan
• MA Psychology, University of Michigan
• BS Psychology, Lewis & Clark College

Not teaching this semester.

Palmer, E. M., Fencsik, D. E., Flusberg, S. J., Horowitz, T. S., & Wolfe, J. M.  (2011).  Signal detection evidence for limited capacity in visual search. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 73, 2413–2424.

Fencsik, D. E., Klieger, S. B., & Horowitz, T. S. (2007). The role of location and motion information in the tracking and recovery of moving objects. Perception & Psychophysics, 69, 567–577.

Horowitz, T. S., Fine, E. M., Fencsik, D. E., Yurgenson, S., & Wolfe, J. M. (2007). Fixa­tional eye movements are not an index of covert attention. Psychological Science, 18, 356–363.

Horowitz, T. S., Fencsik, D. E., Fine, E. M., Yurgenson, S., & Wolfe, J. M. (2007). Mi­crosaccades and attenion: Does a weak correlation make an index? Reply to Laubrock, Engbert, Rolfs, & Kliegl (2007). Psychological Science, 18, 367–368.

Horowitz, T. S., Klieger, S. B., Fencsik, D. E., Yang, K. K., Alvarez, G. A., & Wolfe, J. M. (2007). Tracking unique objects. Perception & Psychophysics, 69, 172–184.

Fencsik, D. E., Urrea, J., Place, S. S., Wolfe, J. M., & Horowitz, T. S. (2006). Velocity cues improve visual search and multiple object tracking. Visual Cognition, 14, 92–95.

Horowitz, T. S., Birnkrant, R. S., Fencsik, D. E., Tran, L., & Wolfe, J. W. (2006). How do we track invisible objects? Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 13, 516–523.

Gehring, W. J. & Fencsik, D. E. (2001). Functions of the medial frontal cortex in the processing of conflict and errors. Journal of Neuroscience, 21, 9430–9437.

Schumacher, E. H., Seymour, T. L., Glass, J. M., Fencsik, D. E., Lauber, E. J., Kieras, D. E., & Meyer, D. E. (2001). Virtually perfect timesharing in dual-task performance: Uncorking the central cognitive bottleneck. Psychological Science, 12, 101–108.

Hackenkamp, S. M., Fencsik, D. E., Wolfe, J. M., & Horowitz, T. S. (2025, May). Faster moving targets are detected more efficiently than slow moving targets in visual search. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Western Psychological Association, Las Vegas, NV.

Fencsik, D. E., Shang, C. Z., & Morrison, A. S. (2025, May). The effects of anxiety on the switching of attentional scope. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Western Psychological Association, Las Vegas, NV.

King, S., Fencsik, D., & Morrison, A. S. (2024, April). Anxiety and attentional scope on a modified attentional blink task. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, Boston, MA.

Gill, N., & Fencsik, D. (2012). Effects of disruptions on multiple object tracking. Presented at the 4th Annual California Cognitive Science Conference, Berkeley, CA, April 28.

Fencsik, D., Wendel, L., Wolfe, J., & Horowitz, T. (2011). Faster is more efficient in visual search for motion. Poster presented at the 11th Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Naples, FL, May 6–11.

Gill, N., & Fencsik, D. (2011). Effects of distraction on recovery time. Presented at the 2nd Annual UC Berkeley Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference, Berkeley, CA, May 1.

Hassani, H., & Fencsik, D. (2011). Motion search and motivation: A comparative study. McNair Scholars Poster Presented at the CSUEB Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Poster Exhibit, Hayward, CA, May 25.

Palmer, E., Fencsik, D., Horowitz, T., & Wolfe, J. (2011). Signal detection evidence for an attentional bottleneck in spatial configuration visual search. Poster presented at the 11th Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Naples, FL, May 6–11.

Fencsik, D., Place, S., Johnson, M., & Horowitz, T. (2010). Rapid recovery of moving targets following task disruption. Poster presented at the 10th Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Naples, FL, May 7–12.

Rich, A., English, T., & Fencsik, D. E. (2010). Visual working memory for multiple feature changes: Evidence from synaesthesia. Poster presented at the 10th Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Naples, FL, May 7–12.

Fencsik, D. E., Wendel, L. V., Wolfe, J. M., & Horowitz, T. S. (2009) Faster moving targets are detected efficiently in visual search. Poster presented at the 50th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Boston, MA, November 19–22.

Fencsik, D. E., & Heaton, J. L. (2009). Durability of feature-based and object-based rep­resentations in visual short-term memory. Poster presented at the 9th Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Naples, FL, May 8–13.

Fencsik, D. E., Place, S. S., Wolfe, J. M., & Horowitz, T. S. (2007). Faster is not neces­sarily better in visual search. Poster presented at the 7th Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL, May 11–16.

Fencsik, D. E., Horowitz, T. S., Flusberg, S. J., & Wolfe, J. M. (2006). Change detection has no foresight: Measuring advanced knowledge of changes across displays. Talk presented at the 6th Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL, May 5–10.

Horowitz, T. S., Fine, E. M., Fencsik, D. E., Yurgenson, S., & Wolfe, J.M. (2006). Fix­ational eye movements do not predict attentional benefits. Talk presented at the 6th Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL, May 5–10.

Wolfe, J. M., Horowitz, T. S., Fencsik, D. E., & Flusberg, S. J. (2006). Visual search has no foresight. Talk presented at the 6th Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL, May 5–10.

Wolfe, J. M., Flusberg, S. J., Fencsik, D. E., & Horowitz, T. S. (2005). Visual search has no foresight: An event-related signal detection approach to speeded visual search tasks. Talk presented at the 46th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Toronto, ON, November 10–13.

Fencsik, D. E., Horowitz, T. S., Place, S. S., Klieger, S. B., & Wolfe, J. M. (2005). Target tracking during interruption in the multiple object tracking task. Poster presented at the 5th Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL, May 6–11.

Horowitz, T. S., Klieger, S. B., Wolfe, J. M., Fencsik, D. E., & Alvarez, G. A. (2004). How many unique objects can you track? Talk presented at the 45th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Minneapolis, MN, November 18–21.

Horowitz, T. S., Klieger, S. B., Wolfe, J. M., Alvarez, G. A., & Fencsik, D. E. (2004). Do you know what you are tracking? Poster presented at the 27th Annual Meeting of the European Conference on Visual Perception (ECVP), Budapest, Hungary, August 22–26.

Fencsik, D. E., Horowitz, T. S., Klieger, S. B., & Wolfe, J. M. (2004). Target reacquisition strategies in multiple object tracking. Poster presented at the 4th Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL, April 30–May 5.

Horowitz, T. S., Birnkrant, R. S., Wolfe, J. M., Tran, L., & Fencsik, D. E. (2004). Tracking invisible objects. Poster presented at the 4th Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL, April 30–May 5.

Fencsik, D. E., Seymour, T. L., Mueller, S. T., Kieras, D. E., & Meyer, D. E. (2002). Rep­resentation, retention, and recognition of information in visual working memory. Poster presented at the 43nd Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Kansas City, MO, November 21–24.

Meyer, D.E., Kieras, D. E., Schumacher, E. H., Fencsik, D., & Glass, J. M. B. (2001). Pre­requisites for virtually perfect time sharing in dual-task performance. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Orlando, FL, November 15–18.

Gehring, W. J., & Fencsik, D. (1999). Slamming on the brakes: An electrophysiolog­ical study of error response inhibition. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, Washington, DC, April 10–13.

(CSUEB students/alumni are indicated in bold.)

California State University, East Bay Faculty Support Grants, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012

Psychology Professor of the Year, 2009, 2011

National Institutes of Health NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2004

Horace H. Rackham Dissertation Fellowship, 2003

National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, 1997

CSUEB Committee Service (current):

• Department of Psychology Resources Committee 
• Department of Public Health Retention, Promotion and Tenure Committee

CSUEB Committee Service (former):

• Academic Senate
• Academic Senate Committee on Academic Planning and Review (CAPR)
• Academic Senate Committee on Budget and Resource Allocation (COBRA)
• Academic Senate Faculty Affairs Committee (FAC)
• Academic Senate Information Technology Advisory Committee (ITAC)
• College of Science A2E2/IRE Committee Chair
• College of Science Curriculum Committee
• College of Science Scholarship Committee
• Department of Psychology Curriculum Committee
• Department of Psychology Web Page Committee
• University Commencement Faculty Marshall
• CSUEB Science Festival Organizer and Presenter
• Faculty Advisor to CSUEB Chapter of Psi Chi
• Faculty Advisor to CSUEB Psychology Club