Cognitive Neuroscience

Research Interests:
Linguistics and the cognitive neuroscience of development and its disorders. Focus of current research: How does language organization develop in the child brain? What are the brain mechanisms of plasticity in the face of early brain lesion? How do principles of plasticity differ across functional domains? Why do effects of developmental plasticity differ so dramatically between cases of early structural brain damage and developmental disorders such as autism?

Cognitive Neuroscience

Research Interests:
Essential characteristics of the cognitive/linguistic phenotype that define different neurodevelopmental disorders. Special focus on autism, specific language impairment, and Williams syndrome. Goals of current NIH funded research: defining the disorders; the role of characterizing the cognitive architecture of neurodevelopmental disorders in illuminating theoretical issues of normal development; identifying a cognitive "marker" that will facilitate research on the underlying genetics and neuropathology of the syndromes; and exploring the relationship between cognitive function and neurobiological substrates in these disorders using both structural and functional MRI.