Rate My Professor Matt Stainer

Dr. Matt Stainer is a Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow in the School of Applied Psychology at Griffith University. As a cognitive psychologist with expertise in decision-making and eye tracking, he focuses on examining human behavior as it occurs in real-world contexts. Stainer earned his PhD in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Dundee in 2012, where he worked in Professor Ben Tatler's Active Vision Lab studying oculomotor strategies in complex visual environments. He previously obtained a BSc (Hons) in Forensic Psychology from Abertay University.

His research interests include vision, eye movements, perception, and their applications to areas such as CCTV surveillance, road safety, paramedicine, sports performance, autism spectrum interventions, and second language acquisition. Stainer participates in the MAIC Griffith University Road Safety Research Collaboration, including a 2025 study surveying 319 individuals on driving behaviors during extreme weather events. He has produced a substantial body of peer-reviewed publications, including 'Looking for trouble: A description of oculomotor search strategies during live CCTV operation' (Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2013), 'The saccadic flow baseline: Accounting for image-independent biases in fixation behavior' (Journal of Vision, 2017), 'The influence of action video game playing on eye movement behaviour during visual search in abstract, in-game and natural scenes' (Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 2017), 'Decision-making in single and multiple-screen CCTV surveillance' (Applied Ergonomics, 2021), 'Spoken language change in children on the autism spectrum receiving community-based interventions' (Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2023), 'Using eye-tracking as a tool to develop L2 lexical knowledge' (Language Learning & Technology, 2023), 'Statistics anxiety or statistics fear? A reinforcement sensitivity theory perspective on psychology students’ statistics anxiety, attitudes, and self-efficacy' (European Journal of Psychology of Education, 2024), and 'Understanding the role of cognitive load in paramedical contexts: A systematic review' (Prehospital Emergency Care, 2025). Stainer's work advances knowledge of visual processing and decision-making under cognitive load, influencing training in high-stakes fields.