Research Focus
Cognitive Neuroscience Aging & Brain Health Alzheimer's & Related Dementias
My research focuses on language, with applications to treatment of acquired neurological disorders such as stroke and dementia. Our lab uses brain imaging techniques (e.g. fMRI, MEG) and behavioural experiments to study how the brain processes words and sentences when producing or comprehending speech and text. One area of intense interest is how the two hemispheres of the brain interact with each other. The hemispheres need to share information with each other to function harmoniously, but they also sometimes compete with each other, and this balance can be thrown off after brain damage. Our research seeks to tease apart these cooperative and competitive dynamics and understand their role in recovery and resilience. Additional work aims to characterize the activity of brain regions that are suffering from subtle forms of damage that are potentially reversible, given interventions including drugs and non-invasive brain stimulation. Current projects with brain stimulation include investigations of both language and hand function.
Besides the neuroimaging work, a portion of our research is purely behavioural, investigating applications of language technology to enhance quality of life for older adults. Topics have included tele-rehabilitation of post-stroke speech disorders, early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease from speech samples, the cognitive benefits of learning a second language via a smartphone app, and revitalization of endangered languages through development of learning materials that take advantage of the brain’s natural tendencies to remember and forget information on a certain schedule.
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Research Technologies
MEG tDCS TMS Patient-based research Intervention research