In Memoriam: Joseph J. Tecce
Retired Associate Professor of Psychology Joseph J. Tecce, whose expertise on the significance of body language, eye movement, and other facets of human behavior was acknowledged well beyond the academic sphere, died on April 16. He was 92.
Visiting hours for Dr. Tecce will be held on April 30 from 4-7 p.m. at George F. Doherty & Sons Funeral Home, 477 Washington Street, Wellesley. A funeral Mass will be celebrated on May 1 at 11 a.m. at St. John the Evangelist Church, Wellesley Hills.
Joseph J. Tecce (Peter Julian)
Dr. Tecce, who began teaching part-time at Boston College in 1971 and joined the faculty full-time in 1983, was greatly interested in hedonics, the branch of psychology which deals with pleasant and unpleasant conscious states and how they relate to organic life. He taught such classes as Psychobiology of Mental Disorders, Health Psychology, and Stress and Behavior, published or co-published some 99 articles and contributions to journals and books, and gave numerous presentations to students, academic communities, and the public.
Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Neuroscience Hiram Brownell noted that Dr. Tecce had already cultivated a distinguished career by the time he became a full-time 红桃视频 faculty member, having taught at Tufts University, Boston University, Harvard University, and Massachusetts General Hospital, with a specialty in electroencephalogram (EEG) measurement of human brain activity corresponding to, for example, changes in attention.
鈥淗is work was important in establishing how to distinguish EEG traces reflecting cognition from those associated with other sources such as eye movements. He was a major contributor at the formative stages of what continues today as an active field of investigation in cognitive neuroscience.鈥� 听
Media outlets were impressed by Dr. Tecce鈥檚 scientific acumen and engaging manner and often sought his observations and analysis, especially pertaining to body language and the relationship between stress and eye-blink rates; he gave an estimated 694 interviews on radio and television alone.听
Dr. Tecce鈥檚 scientific talents and interests proved useful in many other ways. He was among a trio of faculty members, including the late Egan Professor of Computer Science James Gips and Carroll School of Management Associate Professor Peter Olivieri, who developed an adaptive technology, EagleEyes, enabling paralyzed or nonverbal individuals to play games, type words, and express feelings by using their eyes to move a computer cursor.
鈥淛oe was an extremely kind and generous man who was always interested in his students and genuinely cared about his colleagues,鈥� said Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience Karen Rosen. 鈥淗e was passionate about sharing his ideas about the brain's role in regulating attention and about how the mind affects the body during times of stress. He also loved talking about vitamins and nutrition and the importance of exercise. He taught hundreds of students to meditate and was at the forefront of current work on wellness and the mind-body connection.鈥�
Brownell said that Dr. Tecce would be remembered 鈥渇or his sociability, his breadth of knowledge that spanned clinical, neuroscientific, and health domains, and for his intellectual tenacity.鈥�
A native of Boston who grew up in nearby Wakefield, Dr. Tecce earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree from Bowdoin College and a doctorate from Catholic University of America.. He served in the Medical Service Corps of the United States Army Reserves, earning the rank of captain.
Dr. Tecce retired from Boston College in 2019.
In addition to his wife, Mary Jo Spigelmire, Dr. Tecce is survived by his children, Anthony, Maria, Peter (husband of Lynne Harrold), Susanna Ralli (wife of James), and Christopher; and his granddaughter, Cara. He was predeceased by his parents, Amelia (Petrucci) and Giuseppe Tecce, and his sister, Mary Giangregorio.
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