Rate My Professor David Melcher

David Melcher is Professor of Psychology and Global Network Professor of Psychology at New York University Abu Dhabi. He also serves as Program Head of Psychology and Co-Principal Investigator and Theme Director at the Center for Brain and Health. Melcher earned his PhD in Psychology and Cognitive Science from Rutgers University in 2001. Following his doctoral studies, he worked as a researcher and professor in the United Kingdom and Italy, including as Associate Professor at the University of Trento's Center for Mind/Brain Sciences. His research examines the interaction of perception, attention, memory, emotion, and action within a cognitive neuroscience framework. He investigates how the brain parses continuous sensory input into discrete percepts to guide cognition and action during active engagement with the environment. Key topics include temporal factors in neural processing, brain time frames that organize perception, attention, and cognition, and how individual and clinical differences in spatial and temporal processing influence interactions with technology, the natural world, and development across the lifespan. Melcher employs advanced methods such as fMRI, EEG, MEG, eye-tracking, behavioral studies, computational modeling, and investigations with clinical populations.

Melcher's contributions have appeared in prestigious journals including Nature Neuroscience, Current Biology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Neuron, and PNAS. Notable publications include 'Predictive remapping of visual features precedes saccadic eye movements' (Nature Neuroscience, 2007), 'Trans-saccadic perception' (Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2008), 'Spatiotopic temporal integration of visual motion across saccadic eye movements' (Nature Neuroscience, 2003), 'Frequency modulation of neural oscillations according to visual task demands' (PNAS, 2018), and the co-edited book 'Art and the Senses' (Oxford University Press, 2011). In 2011, the American Psychological Association awarded him the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology. He serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Vision, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Perception, and iPerception. His work has received funding from the European Research Council, US National Institutes of Health, Italian Ministry of Research and Education, and Chinese Ministry of Foreign Expert Affairs. Melcher directs the Perception and Active Cognition Lab at NYU Abu Dhabi.