I am a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia (UBC). My research integrates the fields of cognitive, neuroscience, and social psychology, and relies on several experimental paradigms, including eye-tracking and virtual reality.
Selected Recent Publications:
Pazhoohi, F., & Kingstone, A. (2022). Preferred distance from camera for online interactions and its relation with individual differences in pathogen sensitivity. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 84, 101916.

In the current study, we aimed to investigate individuals’ preferred distance from a camera for themselves and others while in an online interaction. Preferred distance for an online interaction begins around 80 cm from camera for both for men and women.
Pazhoohi, F., & Kingstone, A. (2022). Unattractive faces are more attractive when the bottom-half is masked, an effect that reverses when the top-half is concealed. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications. 7, 6.

In this study we investigated the effect of facial masks on the perceptions of facial attractiveness. Our results show that wearing face masks increase the perceived attractiveness of less attractive faces in both young and old people, while face masks do not affect highly attractive faces.
Pazhoohi, F., & Kingstone, A. (2022). The effect of eyelash length on attractiveness: A previously uninvestigated indicator of beauty. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 16(2), 176–180. https://doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000243

From an evolutionary and biological perspective, we test, and confirm, that the perceived attractiveness of eyelashes dovetails with their predicted value to protect the eyes and signal healthiness to others. Contrary to some beliefs that the attractiveness is increasing with the length of eyelashes on female faces, the preference for eyelash length follows an inverted-U function. This function is observed for both female and male faces.
Pazhoohi, F., Jacobs, O., & Kingstone, A. (2022). Contrapposto Pose Influences Perceptions of Attractiveness, Masculinity, and Dynamicity of Male Statues from Antiquity. Evolutionary Psychological Science.

This study provide the first experimental evidence that variations in contrapposto poses in male models affect people’s perception across a range of values, including on their attractiveness. We also provide evidence demonstrating the enhanced sensitivity of art perception within a VR environment.