28 ACUMEN • SPRING 2026 working memory work together. To explore these mechanisms, Bennett is running two separate experiments—one using eye-tracking and another using electroencephalography (EEG). Eye-tracking reveals where participants look, showing what captures their focus. EEG measures electrical activity in the brain, offering insight into shifts in attention that participants may not consciously notice. Although she is not conducting these methods simultaneously, each experiment sheds light on different aspects of attentional allocation, revealing both conscious and subtle unconscious shifts in focus over time. Early pilot work with eye-tracking has revealed intriguing patterns: participants’ eyes often drift back to previously important locations unless a distraction appears. Bennett’s upcoming EEG study will test related hypotheses about how the brain reallocates focus during these moments. Together, her findings aim to reveal how attention may strengthen working memory for items even after they’re no longer visible. “Every day, our brains are bombarded with stimuli,” Bennett says. “Figuring out how we filter the noise and hold onto what matters is what drives my work.” A central focus of Bennett’s research is spatial attention—our ability to focus on specific locations or objects, even when they’re no longer in view. Spatial attention helps the brain decide what to keep in working memory and what to filter out, allowing us to navigate busy environments, prioritize competing information, and manage multiple streams of information simultaneously. “Consider a pop quiz,” she says. “You just learned something, but competing information or interruptions can interfere with recall. I want to understand how the brain decides what to hold onto amid all that input.” Her work may ultimately inform strategies for people with attention challenges, such as ADHD, where focusing on key information is often difficult. Bennett’s journey to cognitive psychology was shaped by curiosity and experience. As an undergraduate at Bloomsburg University, she studied psychology and criminal justice, exploring how people process information differently. After graduation, she worked as a school director, observing firsthand how motivation, distractions, and environment shape learning. “Every student—and every brain—works in its own way,” Bennett says. These observations sparked a deeper interest in cognitive processes and led her toward neuroscience and experimental psychology. Today, that Mapping Attention and Memory ABBY RYAN How a graduate student’s brain-imaging research reveals what we pay attention to—and why Our world is overflowing with distractions. From the constant ping of phone notifications to overlapping conversations and background noise, our brains are constantly deciding what to notice—and what to ignore. Haley Bennett, a master’s student in cognitive psychology, investigates how the brain makes these splitsecond decisions. Her research focuses on working memory, the brain’s “mental whiteboard” that temporarily stores information, helping us prioritize what matters and retain it. “I’m fascinated by what happens after we first notice something,” Bennett says. “Once it disappears from view, how do we keep it in mind? How do we determine what’s important when our attention is limited?” She studies moments when information must be maintained in working memory, even as the brain filters distractions. Bennett is particularly interested in whether people revisit key mental locations and how interruptions can disrupt this process, offering insight into how attention and KEN ORVIDAS / THEISPOT.COM, CHRISTINE KRESCHOLLEK
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