David Fencsik Faculty Profile
David Fencsik
Associate Professor
Department of Psychology
- E-mail: david.fencsik@csueastbay.edu
- Phone: (510) 885-4787
- Office: Science North 115B
- Office Hours: See below
- Vitae: View my CV
Office Hours for Spring 2025 (January 21–May 16)
Appointments for students available on .
Drop-in times are on Mondays 12:30–1:30 PM (). I will not hold drop-in office hours during Spring Break on March 31.
If you are not currently a student, please email me to schedule an appointment.
My research investigates human visual processing, focusing on how the visual system extracts information from the environment and stores it for short periods of time.
- PhD Psychology, University of Michigan
- MA Statistics, University of Michigan
- MA Psychology, University of Michigan
- BS Psychology, Lewis & Clark College
Course # | Sec | Course Title | Days | From | To | Location | Campus |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
PSYC 330 | 01 | Cognitive Psych | TTH | 10:00AM | 11:40AM | AE-0285 | |
PSYC 490 | 01 | Independent Study | ARR | ARR | |||
PSYC 491C | 01 | Research in Cognitive Psyc | TTH | 1:15PM | 2:55PM | BC-0240 | |
PSYC 491C | 02 | Research in Cognitive Psyc | TTH | 3:15PM | 4:55PM | BC-0240 |
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.
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 efïŹcient in visual search for motion. Poster presented at the 11th Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Naples, FL, May 6â11.
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 conïŹguration visual search. Poster presented at the 11th Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Naples, FL, May 6â11.
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 7â12.
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 7â12.
Fencsik, D. E., Wendel, L. V., Wolfe, J. M., & Horowitz, T. S. (2009) Faster moving targets are detected efïŹciently in visual search. Poster presented at the 50th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Boston, MA, November 19â22.
Fencsik, D. E., & Heaton, J. L. (2009). Durability of feature-based and object-based repÂresentations in visual short-term memory. Poster presented at the 9th Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Naples, FL, May 8â13.
Fencsik, D. E., Place, S. S., Wolfe, J. M., & Horowitz, T. S. (2007). Faster is not necesÂsarily better in visual search. Poster presented at the 7th Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL, May 11â16.
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 5â10.
Horowitz, T. S., Fine, E. M., Fencsik, D. E., Yurgenson, S., & Wolfe, J.M. (2006). FixÂational eye movements do not predict attentional beneïŹts. Talk presented at the 6th Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, Sarasota, FL, May 5â10.
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 5â10.
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 10â13.
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 6â11.
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 18â21.
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 22â26.
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 30âMay 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 30âMay 5.
Fencsik, D. E., Seymour, T. L., Mueller, S. T., Kieras, D. E., & Meyer, D. E. (2002). RepÂresentation, retention, and recognition of information in visual working memory. Poster presented at the 43nd Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Kansas City, MO, November 21â24.
Meyer, D.E., Kieras, D. E., Schumacher, E. H., Fencsik, D., & Glass, J. M. B. (2001). PreÂrequisites for virtually perfect time sharing in dual-task performance. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Orlando, FL, November 15â18.
Gehring, W. J., & Fencsik, D. (1999). Slamming on the brakes: An electrophysiologÂical study of error response inhibition. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, Washington, DC, April 10â13.
Fencsik, D., & Nilsen, E. (1997). To tap or not to tap: Button actions on a trackpad. Paper presented at the meeting of the Western Psychological Association.
Nilsen, E., Emerson, M., Fencsik, D., & Isenberg, Z. (1997). When relative mapping is absolutely better: A study of a hybrid input device. Paper presented at the meeting of the Western Psychological Association.
Nilsen, E., Fencsik, D., Smith, A., Solares, L., & Stratton, S. (1995). Reducing visual stress symptoms of VDT users with prescription eyeglasses. Proceedings of the ConÂference on Human Factors in Computing, CHI â95. Denver, CO, May 7â11.
(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 CommitteeÂ
- 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