Natalie Kacinik - Background and Research Interests I completed my PhD in October, 2003, and am currently doing a postdoc with Dr. Kathy Baynes at the University of California , Davis . I’m originally from Toronto and have a BA and MA from the University of Western Ontario , in London , Ontario , Canada , where I worked under the supervision of Dr. Stephen Lupker. My research interests generally involve trying to understand the cognitive and neural processes of language comprehension. Some of the studies I have conducted include: investigating the extent to which word meaning activation is a relatively automatic or more attentionally demanding process using prime letter search and negative priming procedures, and examining representational and processing differences across various types of words (e.g., nouns, verbs, abstract, and concrete concepts). Most recently, my doctoral dissertation was designed to systematically investigate cerebral asymmetries in the processing of literal and metaphoric language in normal non-lesioned participants using the divided visual field paradigm. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which each hemisphere is typically involved in understanding metaphors of increasing linguistic complexity. Some studies with brain-injury survivors (e.g., Brownell et al., 1984; 1990; Kempler et al., 1999; Winner & Gardner, 1977), as well as non-injured individuals (Bottini et al., 1994; Anaki et al., 1998), have suggested that even though the left hemisphere (LH) is generally the dominant hemisphere for language, the right hemisphere (RH) may be preferentially involved in comprehending figurative language. Across 3 experiments ranging from single word priming with ambiguous words having a literal and figurative sense to sentence priming of metaphoric expressions like “His girlfriend’s face was a storm”, I generally failed to support the preferential RH metaphor hypothesis. Both hemispheres were found to be involved in metaphor comprehension, although there were minor differences in the nature of their contribution. Specifically, the RH maintained the activation of figurative meanings for individual words longer than the LH, but this activation was weak at best, and although both hemispheres were able to understand more complex metaphoric sentences, the RH was also found to maintain the activation of contextually inappropriate literal aspects of meaning. This could be useful if the event that an initial interpretation had to be revised. In my postdoctoral research I am currently following up my dissertation work by investigating the extent to which these cerebral asymmetries in metaphor comprehension are modulated by the familiarity and comprehensibility of these expressions. I am also about to begin a study using the ERP (event-related potentials) recording procedure to more closely examine the time-course and neural activity involved in the integration of metaphoric meaning into a sentence context. In addition, while at UC Davis, I also hope to take advantage of the large population of stroke patients available through the Martinez and UC Davis Medical Centers, as well as Veterans Administration Northern California System of Clinics (VANCSC), to investigate the literal and metaphoric language comprehension of individuals with lesions in the right and left hemispheres to determine if something as severe as a brain injury is needed to demonstrate preferential involvement of the RH in understanding figurative language. Contact Info:
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