Well, that is one of the things to find out sometime. Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive –– it's such an interesting world. It wouldn't be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then, would there? –– Anne of Green Gables, L. M. Montgomery
My research aims to tell the story of how the human brain processes and produces the rich array of languages it encounters!
These interests have brought me to MIT’s Brain & Cognitive Sciences department and the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, where I work with Ev Fedorenko and an incredible team of language scientists at EvLab.
While I’m generally involved in mapping out the neural footprints that language leaves upon the human brain, my research diverges along three trails:
- Bilingualism | How does the ability to use multiple languages change how the brain processes language altogether?
Mounting evidence suggests that experience with two or more linguistic inventories imposes structural and functional changes upon the brain. Using a mix of neuroimaging, behavioral, and computational techniques, I aim not only to understand these changes, but also to convey their importance as both a scientific lens and framework for interpersonal flourishing.
- Language & Emotion | What makes language emotional?
Neither the parts nor sum of language and emotion are straightforward. Individuals differ in how they interpret linguistic expressions of emotion, and their own depictions are hardly more consistent. Accordingly, I want to ask i) how we begin to map emotion onto language, and ii) what mechanisms underly our ability to update these mappings on-line and in emotional contexts.
- Culture & Language | How do individual and cross-cultural differences influence language processing?
Along a similar vein, differences in linguistic abilities and preferences are influenced by culture. Here I aim to understand the constraints imposed upon language processing by i>i)</i> individuals' varying cultural backgrounds and ii) the cross-cultural contexts they navigate.
The brain’s functional landscape is yet largely and miraculously unexplored. You can read more about what I and my delightful collaborators have discovered in pursuit of these questions, where I’ve been along the way, and what other curiosities occupy my brain as you explore the terrain of this site.
Otherwise –– if I’m not sciencing, I’m probably hiking.
Happy (neural) trails! :)
