Postdoctoral researcher · JMU Würzburg
Dr. Nikol Figalová
I study how gaze conveys meaning in social interaction.
My research combines eye tracking, experimental psychology, psychophysiology, and mixed methods to understand cognition in social and technological contexts.
Current research
Decoding the semantics of gaze
Gaze is one of the most fundamental signals in social interaction, yet the meaning of even simple gaze behaviours depends strongly on who is looking, at whom, and in what context. In my current work, I focus on understanding how gaze conveys and constrains meaning
in social interaction.
Research question
How do observers derive social meaning from gaze direction, gaze shifts, mutual gaze, and other elementary gaze behaviours?
Approach
I combine exploratory qualitative work, behavioural experiments, mobile eye tracking, virtual agents, and dynamic social-interaction paradigms.
Programme
This work forms part of the DFG-funded Priority Programme Understanding Gaze (SPP 2481) at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg.
I am affiliated with two departments within the Institute of Psychology at JMU Würzburg:
Research areas
My work connects social cognition, human factors, and rigorous experimental methodology.
Gaze and social interaction
How gaze patterns acquire social meaning and how situational context changes their interpretation.
Neuroergonomics
Attention, workload, fatigue, and information processing in interaction with automated and intelligent systems.
Research methodology
Experimental design, eye tracking, psychophysiology, mixed methods, psychometrics, and reproducible evidence synthesis.
Selected publications
A selection of work spanning gaze semantics, social cognition, neuroergonomics, human interaction with automation, and psychometrics.
2026 · Preprint
Gaze semantics: A scoping review of how gaze conveys and constrains meaning in social contexts
A systematic map of what gaze can—and cannot—communicate across social contexts.
2024 · Article
From driver to supervisor: Comparing cognitive load and EEG-based attentional resource allocation across automation levels
Research examining attention, workload, fatigue, and cognitive processing as the human role shifts from active driver to supervisor of automation.
2021 · Article
The perceived stress scale: Reliability and validity study in the Czech Republic
Czech translation and psychometric evaluation of the adapted version of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14, PSS-10, and PSS-4).
About me
From neuroergonomics to social cognition
I am a postdoctoral researcher in experimental psychology at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg. My current research examines how gaze conveys and constrains meaning in social interaction.
I hold a PhD in neuroergonomics from Ulm University. During my doctoral research, I investigated attention, mental workload, fatigue, and information processing in human interaction with automated vehicles, combining EEG, eye tracking, behavioural measures, and self-report.
More broadly, I am interested in social cognition, human factors, human–computer interaction, psychophysiology, experimental design, mixed methods, and research methodology.
I love long walks with my dog and good food.
Experience and CV
I am an experimental psychologist focusing on social cognition, neuroergonomics, eye tracking, psychophysiology, research methodology, data analysis, and statistics.
Contact
Let’s connect
For research collaborations, academic enquiries, student projects, or invited talks, please get in touch.