Research

We conduct experiments examining the neural underpinnings of aspects of language and cognitive processing, in typically developing children and adults as well as those exhibiting atypical or pathological development utilizing combinations of behavioral and electrophysiological techniques. This page provides short summaries of our current and recent research projects.

Digital vs. Print Media Study

The current study provides a direct comparison of how the brain handles text reading via print and digital media, using neurophysiological outcome measures in the form of Event-Related Potentials (ERPs). Neurophysiological methods have the potential to offer foundational insights into the cognitive processes that underlie behavioral manifestations of reading performance and comprehension. Our study protocol is aligned with the psychological construct of reading comprehension elaborated by Kintsch (2012), which holds that text comprehension is a dynamic process of constructing meaning from the semantic relations among words in the text and one’s stored knowledge about the subject at hand. Utilizing electroencephalography (EEG) affords a means of tracking this information processing account of text comprehension in real-time, yielding an objective index that can be related to observed behavioral differences, and providing a launching point from which a number of yet outstanding questions about reading comprehension can be probed.  

Participate in this study!