Publications & Presentations

Journal Articles

Chen, Z., McCrackin, S., Morgan, A., Itier, R. (accepted). 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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


McCrackin, S., & Itier, R. (2019). Individual differences in the emotional modulation of gaze-cuing. Cognition and Emotion, 1-33.


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.


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.

Non-technical Publications

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

Published Abstracts

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.

Conference Presentations

Talks


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.

Workshops


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.


Poster Presentations


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.

Invited Presentations

Panels


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


Lectures


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)