Neural basis of human memory and language with an emphasis on semantic memory and frontal lobe function
We study the biological bases of human cognitive systems – perception, memory, language, thought, cognitive control – and the interrelations among these systems, with a particular emphasis on the characterization of typical and atypical variation across individuals.
Recent projects emphasize (1) functions of the frontal lobe in the regulation of thought and behavior, especially in relation to language and memory processes; and (2) the organization and neural substrates of concept knowledge (especially knowledge of visual attributes) and the relation between conceptual information and perception and language.
We answer these questions by developing and implementing a wide array of behavioral and neuroscientific methods with both typical and atypical populations, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), lesion-deficit mapping of neurological patients, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), genotypic analysis of typical variation, on-line eye-tracking, & so on.
Professor Sharon Thompson-Schill will not be considering new graduate students for admission for Fall 2025.
Coutanche, M. N. & Thompson-Schill, S. L. (in press). Consolidation of new knowledge in adulthood via fast mapping. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. PMID: 26139618
Musz, E. & Thompson-Schill, S. L. (in press). Semantic variability predicts neural variability of concepts. Neuropsychologia. PMID: 25462197
Persichetti, A. S., Aguirre, G. K., & Thompson-Schill, S. L. (in press). Value is in the eye of the beholder: Early visual cortex codes monetary value of objects during a diverted attention task. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. PMID: 25390198
Coutanche, M.N. & Thompson-Schill, S. L. (in press). Creating concepts from converging features in human cortex. Cerebral Cortex. PMID: 24692512
Nozari, N. & Thompson-Schill, S. L. (2013). More attention when speaking: does it help or does it hurt? Neuropsychologia, 51, 2770-2780. PMID: 24012690
Coutanche, M. N. & Thompson-Schill, S. L. (2013). Information Connectivity: Identifying synchronized discriminability of multi-voxel patterns across the brain. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7. PMID: 23403700
Lupyan, G.,, Mirman, D., Hamilton, R., & Thompson-Schill, S. L. (2012). Categorization is modulated by transcranial direct current stimulation over left prefrontal cortex. Cognition, 124, 36-49. PMID: 22578885
Hindy, N., Altmann, G., Kalenik, E., & Thompson-Schill, S. L. (2012). The effect of object state-changes on event processing: Do objects compete with themselves? Journal of Neuroscience, 32, 5795-5803. PMID: 22539841
Thompson-Schill, S. L., Ramscar, M., & Chrysikou, E. G. (2009). Cognition without control: When a little frontal cortex goes a long way. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18, 259-263. PMID: 20401341
Thompson-Schill, S. L., Swick, D., Farah, M. J., D'Esposito, M., Kan, I. P., & Knight, R. T. (1998). Verb generation in patients with focal frontal lesions: A neuropsychological test of neuroimaging findings. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 95, 15855-15860. PMID: 986106019.
Thompson-Schill, S. L., D'Esposito, M., Aguirre, G. K., & Farah, M. J. (1997). Role of left prefrontal cortex in retrieval of semantic knowledge: A re-evaluation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 94, 14792-14797. PMID: 9405692
PSYC 149 Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience
PSYC 400 Undergraduate Honors Seminar