Psycholinguistics

Leah’s research involves linking current syntactic theory with the cognitive neuroscience of language. Current studies are probing the processing units during language comprehension and testing whether sentential processing aligns with the predictions of the Minimalist Program proposed by Noam Chomsky. Specifically, behavioral studies have been finding processing differences between relative clauses and prepositional phrases, in that semantic content within clauses appears to be encapsulated from surrounding content more so than the content of a prepositional phrase.

Shannon Grippando’s research focuses on the intersection of spoken language and written language. Broadly: how does learning to read and write alter speech patterns and the organization of language in the brain? More specifically, he is currently investigating how the number of graphemes in an orthographic representation can affect speech duration across various writing systems (including English and Japanese).

Rachel’s project examines the interaction between context, meaning and linguistic structure during sentence processing using behavioral (reaction times or keyboard responses) and neurological methods (EEG). Specifically, she is working on how contextual information influences the reading of ambiguous multi-word phrases like *mechanical pencil eraser *(“eraser from a mechanical pencil” or “pencil eraser that is mechanical”).

Hicham is currently researching the sentential/discourse processing and interpretation of certain anaphoric constructions in Arabic. The purpose of this research is to understand how non-native learners of Arabic keep track of and resolve the relationship between anaphors and their antecedents. Put simply, an anaphor is a cohesive element in the sentence that connects current information with previous discourse.