Mary Hayhoe received her BA from the University of Queensland, Australia, and her PhD from the University of California at San Diego, USA. She is currently a Professor in the Center for Perceptual Systems at the University of Texas Austin. Previously, she was a member of the Center for Visual Sciences at the University of Rochester, USA.

Hayhoe has been a leader in developing virtual environments and experimental paradigms for the investigation of natural visually guided behavior, and for innovative use of technology for recording eye, head and body movements in natural contexts. Her work reveals the factors that influence sensory-motor decisions in the context of active behavior, and how gaze behavior relates to attention, working memory, and cognitive goals.

She is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Vision. She is a Fellow of Optica and the Society of Experimental Psychologists, and received the Davida Teller Award. In 2022, she received the Edgar D. Tillyer Award "for outstanding contributions to our understanding of visual perception and cognition in natural tasks through the innovative use of technology for recording eye, head, limb, and body position in both natural and virtual environments."