About

Human beings constantly construct and process meanings and concepts in their daily linguistic and sensori-motor interaction with the world. What one knows about “piano”, for example, may consist of what one has read about the object in text, visual experience with the shape and structure of an actual piano, hearing the sound it makes, as well as physical interaction when moving or playing the instrument. Thus, effectively retrieving and weighting relevant information associated with a concept for a given situation is the key to efficaciously interpret what is happening around us, and in many ways affect how we respond to it.

The overarching research interest of this lab is in the cognitive mechanisms associated with such meaning processing in the brain. Our previous work focused on how linguistic, perceptual, and motor information contribute to meaning processing. In addition, we examined how these processes change across the life span in the face of accumulated experience and neurobiological constraints associated with aging.

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