Campus Directory

Division Social Sciences Division

Department/College/Unit Psychology Department

Title Assistant Teaching Professor

Affiliation Faculty

Areas of Expertise Psychology

Web Site

Primary Office Location Social Sciences 2
247

Office Hours for Students/ Office Hours (Fall 2024) (Zoom) Mon., 9- 10am; Zoom: https://ucsc.zoom.us/my/hraila?pwd=NkxyV0NBSWZzdGhub2tjRGNXTllTUT09 831 526 6022 ; Passcode: 123

Mail Stop Psychology Faculty Services

Biography, Education and Training

Postdoctoral fellowship, Stanford University

Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Yale University

B.A. in Psychology, Dartmouth College

Summary of Expertise

Links beteween emotion and cognition; visual attention; applying cognitive tools (e.g., eye tracking, CFS) to the study of emotion; obsessive-compulsive disorder; cognitive behavioral therapy.

Research Interests

Dr. Hannah Raila is interested in the "diet" of visual information that we consume as we navigate the world (e.g., do we see the crack in the wall, or do we pass by it unaware?), the factors that predispose us to detect this emotional information in our environment the first place, and how this diet of information influences our emotions. To study our visual biases and how they relate to how we feel, she leverages tools from cognitive psychology - including eye tracking and continuous flash suppression (CFS). More recently, she has become particularly interested in links between visual attention and emotion in OCD and related disorders, including how virtual reality environments can enhance treatment.

Selected Publications

Raila, H., +Bouwer, A., +Moran, C., Kneeland, E.T., +Modi, R., & Joormann, J. (2024). The mindful gaze: Correlations between trait mindfulness and selective attention to positive stimuli. Cognition and Emotion, 38, 256-266.

Raila, H., Avanesyan, T., Valentine, K.E., Koo, B., Hwang, C., Tsutsumi, Y., Andreeff, E., Qiu, T., Rodriguez, P.A.M., van Roessel, P., Bullock, K., & Rodriguez, C.I. (2023). Augmenting group hoarding disorder treatment with virtual reality discarding: A pilot study in older adults. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 166, 25-31.

Matijczak, A., +Yates, M.S., Ruiz, M.C., Santos, L.R., Kazdin, A.E., & Raila, H. (2023). The influence of interaction with pet dogs on psychological distress. Emotion, 24, 384.

+Moore, A., Wheaton, M.G., Rodriguez, C.I., & Raila, H. (2023). Compulsively seeking certainty: Clarifying the association between intolerance of uncertainty and compulsion severity in OCD. Journal of Emotion and Psychopathology, 1, 262-272.

Rutherford, A.V., Raila, H., Blicher, A., Vanderlind, W.M., & Joormann, J. (2022). Seeing red: Distraction influences visual attention for anger but not for other negative emotions. Emotion, 23, 1224-1235.

*Fracalanza, K., *Raila, H., & Rodriguez, C.I. (2021). Could written imaginal exposure be helpful for hoarding disorder? A case series. Journal of Obsessive Compulsive and Related Disorders, 29, 1-5.

Raila, H., Julian, M., Lebowitz, E., & Silverman, W. (2021). Separating from the mothership: A coordinated individual and parent-based approach to severe agoraphobia in a young adult. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 28, 422-344.

Lewis, E.J., Blanco-Martinez, I., Raila, H., & Joormann, J. (2019).  Does repetitive negative thinking affect attention? Differential effects of worry and rumination on attention to emotional stimuli. Emotion, 19, 1450-1462.

Raila, H., Scholl, B.J., & Gruber, J. (2015). Seeing the world through rose-colored glasses: People who are happy and satisfied with life preferentially attend to positive stimuli. Emotion, 15, 449-462. 

Courses PSYC 1: Introduction to Psychology
PSYC 167: Clinical Psychology
PSYC 170: Psychopathology
PSYC 179E: Psychology of Emotion