JEANINE K STEFANUCCI portrait
  • Adjunct Professor, School Of Computing
  • Adjunct Professor, School Of Computing
  • Professor, Psychology Department
  • Assistant Professor, Psychology Department

Education

  • PhD, Psychology, University of Virginia

Biography

My research focuses on better understanding how a person’s bodily states, whether they be emotional, physiological, or physical, and their bodily size modulates their perception of spatial layout (e.g., distance, slopes, height, and size). In contrast to traditional theories of perception that claim perception is an encapsulated module, I believe that emotions, physiological reactions, and the physical shape of our bodies can influence our perception of the world.  My work can be characterized as an approach which is called embodied perception.  To conduct this research, I gather data in the outdoors in natural settings, indoors in hallways or buildings, and in virtual environments. This work is transformational in nature because it weds seemingly disparate fields of study: research on emotion and perception of the environment.  My research program is also translational and applied because my findings have elucidated new avenues for treatment of phobic and anxiety-disordered populations.