McCrackin, S., #Provencher, S., #Mendell, E, & Ristic, J. (2023). Decoding the silent language of the eyes: Occluding the eye-region impacts understanding and sharing of emotions with others. #Equal contribution. Social Cognition, 41(4), 365-389. IF = 1.82
McCrackin, S., & Ristic, J. (2022). Emotional context can reduce the negative impact of face masks on inferring emotions. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 928524. IF = 2.99
McCrackin, S., *#Provencher, S., *#Mendell, E, & Ristic, J. (2022). Transparent masks mitigate the negative impact of opaque masks on understanding emotional states, but not on sharing them. #Equal contribution. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 7(1), 59. IF = 3.70. INVITED CONTRIBUTION TO SPECIAL ISSUE: Face coverings: Considering the implications for face perception and speech communication.
McCrackin, S., Capozzi, F., Mayrand, F., & Ristic, J. (2022). Face masks impair basic emotion recognition: Group effects and individual variability. Social Psychology. SPECIAL ISSUE: Understanding others in Moments of Crisis. 54(1–2), 4–15. IF = 2.71
Hudson, A., Durston, A. J., McCrackin, S., & Itier, R. J. (2021). Emotion, Gender and Gaze Discrimination Tasks do not Differentially Impact the Neural Processing of Angry or Happy Facial Expressions—a Mass Univariate ERP Analysis. Brain Topography, 34(6), 813-833. IF = 3.02
McCrackin, S., & Itier, R. (2021). I can see it in your eyes: Perceived gaze direction impacts ERP and behavioural measures of affective theory of mind. Cortex, 143, 205-222. IF = 4.03
Chen, Z., McCrackin, S., Morgan, A., Itier, R. (2021). The gaze cueing effect and its enhancement by facial expressions are impacted by task demands: direct comparison of target localization and discrimination tasks. Frontiers in Psychology. 12, 696. IF = 2.99
McCrackin, S., & Itier, R. (2020). Feeling through another’s eyes: Perceived gaze direction impacts ERP and behavioral measures of positive and negative affective empathy. NeuroImage. 226, 117605. IF=6.56
McCrackin, S., Lee, C. M., Itier, R. J., & Fernandes, M. A. (2020). Meaningful faces: Self-relevance of semantic context in an initial social encounter improves later face recognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 1-9. IF=5.54
McCrackin, S., & Itier, R. (2019). Perceived gaze direction differentially affects discrimination of facial emotion, attention and gender – an ERP study. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 13, 517. IF=4.50
McCrackin, S., Soomal, K. S., Payal, P., & Itier, R.J. (2019). Spontaneous eye-movements in neutral and emotional gaze-cuing: An eye-tracking investigation. Heliyon, 5(4), e01583. IF=2.85
McCrackin, S., & Itier, R. (2019). Individual differences in the emotional modulation of gaze-cuing. Cognition and Emotion, 1-33. IF=2.68
McCrackin, S., & Itier, R. (2018). Is it about me? Time-course of self-relevance and valence effects on the perception of neutral faces with direct and averted gaze. Biological Psychology, 135, 47-64. IF=3.25
McCrackin, S., & Itier, R. (2018). Both fearful and happy expressions interact with gaze direction by 200ms SOA to speed attention orienting. Visual Cognition, 1-22. IF=1.88
McCrackin, S. (2020). Quantitatively assessing the success of your critical thinking teaching strategies. Teaching Innovation Projects, 9(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.5206/tips.v9i1.10342
McCrackin, S. (2020). Empirically supported strategies for encouraging critical thinking. Teaching Innovation Projects, 9(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.5206/tips.v9i1.10335
Ristic, J. & McCrackin, S. (2022). Occluding face parts impairs human social communication. Journal of Vision, 22(14), 3649.
McCrackin, S., #Provencher, S., #Mendell, E., & Ristic, J. (2022). Occluding the eye-region impacts inferring and sharing a face’s emotional state. #Equal contribution. Journal of Vision, 22(14), 3672.
Mayrand, F., McCrackin, S., & Ristic, J. (2022). Gaze following from another’s perspective. Journal of Vision, 22(14), 4426.
Mayrand, F., McCrackin, S., Capozzi, F., & Ristic, J. (2021). Both cue directionality and mental perspective contribute to social attention. Journal of Vision, 21(9), 2309.
#McCrackin, S., #Capozzi, F., Mendell, E., Provencher, S., Mayrand, F., & Ristic, J. (2021). Recognition of emotions is affected by face masks. #Equal contribution. Journal of Vision, 21(9), 2153.
Lebel, M. M., Doan, T., McCrackin, S., Denison, S., & Itier, R. (2021). Are you talking about me? A pilot investigation of how gender modulates the effects of self-relevance and valence on emotional feelings. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 43, 43.
McCrackin, S., & Itier, R. (2019). Positive and negative empathy exert different effects on the perception of neutral faces with direct and averted gaze. Journal of Vision, 19(10), 217b-217b.
McCrackin, S., & Itier, R. (2018). Perceived gaze direction affects basic cognitive and affective theory of mind processes – an ERP study. Journal of Vision, 18(10), 605-605.
McCrackin, S., & Itier, R. (2016). The impact of contextual valence and self-relevance on electrocortical and behavioral responses to faces with direct and averted gaze. Journal of Vision, 16(12), 1392-1392.
McCrackin, S., & Itier, R. (2015). Increased attention orienting by fearful faces varies with Stimulus-Onset Asynchrony. Journal of Vision, 15(12), 142-142.
McCrackin, S., #Provencher, S., #Mendell, E., & Ristic, J. (August 2022). Putting up a wall: Occlusion of the eye and mouth regions reduces the ability to recognize, infer, and share emotional states. #Equal contribution. European Society for Cognitive Psychology (ESCoP). Lille, France.
Mayrand, F., McCrackin, S., & Ristic, J. (Accepted). Gazing with purpose: Intentionality in observed gaze shifts facilitates gaze following. Psychonomics. San Francisco, CA, USA.
INVITED. McCrackin, S. Provencher, S., Mendell, E., Mayrand, F., Capozzi, F., & Ristic, J (October 2023). Unmasking Our Emotions: Navigating Human Connections in a Masked World. Cognitive Research at McGill (CRAM). Montreal, ON, CA.
McCrackin, S., Zhang, A., Mayrand, F., Ristic, J. (July 2023). Eyes on the clock: How emotional gaze cues make time slow down. Canadian Society for Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Science (CSBBCS). Guelph, ON, CA.
McCrackin, S., & Ristic, J. (June 2023). The negative impact of face masks on empathy is not explained by reduced facial mimicry. Canadian Psychological Association. Toronto, ON, CA.
#McCrackin, S., #Colombatto, C., Fratino, V., Scholl, B., & Ristic, J. (November 2022). Pupil Dilation Widens the Perceived Cone of Direct Gaze. #Equal contribution. Psychonomics. Boston, MA, USA.
McCrackin, S., Provencher, S., Mendell, E., Audet, I, & Ristic, J. (July 2022). Unmasking emotions: The negative impact of facial occlusion by masks on reading emotions may be reduced with transparent masks and emotional context. Canadian Society for Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Science (CSBBCS). Halifax, NS, CA.
McCrackin, S., Mayrand, F., & Ristic, J. (November 2021). Mentalistic not directional aspect of social orienting is associated with perspective taking ability. Object Perception, visual Attention, and visual Memory (OPAM). Virtual International Conference.
McCrackin, S., Mayrand, F., & Ristic, J. (November 2021). Gaze signals include complex representations of other people’s minds. Psychonomics. Virtual International Conference.
McCrackin, S., Capozzi, F., *Provencher, S., *Mendell, E., Mayrand, F. & Ristic, R. (June 2021). Individual differences in social competence and personality traits modulate emotion recognition from masked faces. Canadian Society for Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Science (CSBBCS). Montreal, QC, CA.
McCrackin, S., & Itier, R., (June 2019). Putting the “eyes” in empathizing: Electrocortical and behavioral responses during a positive empathy task are modulated by perceived gaze direction. Canadian Society for Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Science. Waterloo, ON, CA.
McCrackin, S., & Itier, R., (April 2018). Autistic traits are associated with reduced emotional enhancement of gaze-orienting. Graduate Discovery Conference. Waterloo, ON, CA.
McCrackin, S. (April 2018). Motivating students to think critically with empirically supported strategies. University of Waterloo Teaching and Learning Conference. Waterloo, ON, CA. Workshop creator and facilitator.
McCrackin, S., Zhao, P., Mayrand, F., Ristic, J. (July 2023). The gaze advantage: Temporal order judgements are more accurate for gazed-at targets. Canadian Society for Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Science (CSBBCS). Guelph, ON, CA.
Mayrand, F, McCrackin, S., *Wei, Claire, & Ristic, J. (July 2023). The effect of photo editing and perceived attractiveness on sociability in social media. Canadian Society for Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Science (CSBBCS). Guelph, ON, CA.
McCrackin, S., Coco Jie Wang, & Ristic, J. (June 2023). Mimicking the facial expressions of masked faces does not restore empathetic responses towards them. Canadian Psychological Association. Toronto, ON, CA.
Mayrand, F, McCrackin, S., Wei, Claire, & Ristic, J. (June 2023). 'Beautifying' an image using a filter app is associated with increased ratings of attractiveness and sociability regardless of knowledge of photo editing. Canadian Psychological Association. Toronto, ON, CA.
McCrackin, S., Mayrand, F., Zhao, P., & Ristic, J. (May 2023). Emotional gaze cuing impacts temporal order judgements for gazed-at targets. Canadian Association for Neuroscience (CAN). Montreal, QC, CA.
Mayrand, F., McCrackin, S., Lowry, A., Shao, C., & Ristic, J. (May 2023). Reading the minds of others: self-generated eye gaze shifts are responded to faster than the computer-instructed ones. Canadian Association for Neuroscience (CAN). Montreal, QC, CA.
Audet, I, McCrackin, S., & Ristic, J. (May 2023). Context reduces the negative impact of masks on inferring emotions. Healthy Brains, Healthy Lives (HBHL). Montreal, QC, CA.
Mayrand, F., McCrackin, S., & Ristic, J. (November 2022). Perceptual display variability does not modulate the mentalistic and directional aspects of gaze following. Psychonomics. Boston, MA, USA.
McCrackin, S., Khalil, N., & Ristic, J. (August 2022). Both cue directionality and mental perspective contribute to social attention. NSERC Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) Symposium. Virtual provincial conference.
McCrackin, S., Fratino, V., Ristic, J. (July 2022). The Cone of Direct Gaze can be reliably measured online using the Virtual Chin Rest. Canadian Society for Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Science (CSBBCS). Halifax, NS, CA.
Mayrand, F., Khalil, N., McCrackin, S., & Ristic, J. (July 2022). The role of gaze direction and mental content in social orienting: An eye-tracking investigation. Canadian Society for Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Science (CSBBCS). Halifax, NS, CA.
McCrackin, S., Audet, I., & Ristic, J. (May 2022). The negative impact of face occlusion by masks on social communication is reduced by the availability of appropriate emotional context. Social Affective Neuroscience Society (SANS), Virtual international conference.
McCrackin, S., #Provencher, S., #Mendell, E., & Ristic, J. (November 2021). I can’t see it in your eyes: Occluding an individual’s eye-region impacts the ability to infer and share their emotional state. #Equal contribution. Women in Psychology’s Annual Trends in Psychology Summit (TiPS), Boston (virtual), MA, USA.
Chen, Z., McCrackin, S., Morgan, A., & Itier, R., (October 2020). Cognitive demands can disrupt the enhancement of gaze cueing by emotional expressions. Graduate Discovery annual conference. Waterloo, ON, CA.
Lee, C., McCrackin, S., Itier, R., & Fernades, M., (July 2020). You said something about me: Contextual self-relevance during a first encounter with a face impacts later face recognition. Cognitive Science Society (CSS) annual conference. Online conference. The first two authors contributed equally to the work.
Hudson, A., Durston, A., McCrackin, S., & Itier, R., (February 2020). Using mass univariate statistics to examine task effects on early face expression processing. Lake Ontario Visionary Establishment (LOVE) annual conference. Niagara Falls, ON, CA.
McCrackin, S., Soomal, S., Payal, P., & Itier, R.J. (February 2019). A systematic investigation of eye-movements in the emotional gaze-cuing paradigm. Lake Ontario Visionary Establishment (LOVE) annual conference. Niagara Falls, ON, CA.
Hudson, A., McCrackin, S., Lee, M. & Itier, R., (February 2019). Task effects on early expression processing. Lake Ontario Visionary Establishment (LOVE) annual conference. Niagara Falls, ON, CA.
McCrackin, S., & Itier, R., (May 2018). Perceived gaze direction affects basic cognitive and affective theory of mind processes – an ERP study. Southern Ontario Neuroscience Association (SONA) annual conference. Waterloo, ON, CA.
McCrackin, S., & Itier, R., (February 2018). Autistic traits, but not anxiety or depression, modulate the emotional enhancement of gaze-cuing. Lake Ontario Visionary Establishment (LOVE) annual conference. Niagara Falls, ON, CA.
McCrackin, S., & Itier, R., (May 2017). Time course of face processing modulations by contextual self-relevance and sub-clinical social anxiety levels. Southern Ontario Neuroscience Association (SONA) annual conference. St. Catherine's, ON, CA.
McCrackin, S., & Itier, R., (March 2017). Contextual self-relevance modulates face processing differently in those with high versus low sub-clinical social anxiety. Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference. San Francisco, CA, USA.
McCrackin, S., & Itier, R., (May 2016). The impact of contextual valence and self-relevance on electrocortical and behavioral responses to faces with direct and averted gaze. Southern Ontario Neuroscience Association (SONA) annual conference. Waterloo, ON, CA.
McCrackin, S., & Itier, R., (May 2016). The impact of contextual valence and self-relevance on electrocortical and behavioral responses to faces with direct and averted gaze. Graduate Discovery annual conference. Waterloo, ON, CA. *won best poster presentation award
McCrackin, S., Nazarov A., Lanius R., Rhind S., Moulden H., Mamak, M., Di Battista, A., Furimski, I., Chaimowitz, G., McKinnon, M., (April 2014). Investigating mindfulness as a protective factor in a group of healthcare professionals exposed to a shared traumatic event. McMaster University Psychology Poster Day. Hamilton, ON, CA.
11/2023 Poetry Matters Panel on Poetic Attention
McGill University Poetry Matters Initiative,
Sitting on a panel to discuss what cognitive studies on attention can teach us about poetic attention when
immersed in reading
07/2020 Graduate School Information Session
University of Waterloo,
Answered questions about graduate school, including talking about the application process, research funding, supervision styles, and benefits
01/2017 Research Methods in Behavioral Neuroscience
University of Waterloo,
Explained how electroencephalography and eye-tracking techniques work and how I apply them within my own research
12/2014 Ask an Aspiring Neuroscientist
University of Waterloo,
Discussed the Face Processing and Social Cognition Laboratory to paint a picture of my research for third-year Psychology students
06/2017 How to Read a Scientific Paper
University of Waterloo,
Guest lecture given to Perception Course (Psych 306)
05/2017 Research Methods, Ethics and Public Perception
Bluevale Collegiate Institute,
Presented a talk to a grade 11 class on research methods in psychology, with an emphasis on ethical practice and disseminating research findings
04/2017 Psychology 101
Grand River Collegiate Institute,
Presented an introductory psychology talk to three classes of upper year high school students in order promote interest in psychology
11/2016 Emotion
University of Waterloo,
Guest lecture given to Neuropsychology Course (Psych 307)
10/2015 Neural Correlates of Face Processing
University of Waterloo,
Guest lecture given to Intro. Psychology Course (Psych 101)