Jennifer Vannest
Postdoctoral Fellow
Center for Language Sciences and
Bavelier Brain and Vision
Lab
University of Rochester
Meliora Hall Box 270268
Rochester, NY 14627
jvannest@bcs.rochester.edu
PhD,
2001, Ohio State University, Linguistics
Postdoctoral Training, University of Michigan Psychology and fMRI Center
My
research interests lie in investigating the cognitive and neural processes that
underlie humans' ability to use language. Specifically, my work is
intended to address two questions: First, how are complex linguistic
structures like words or sentences represented in the mind, and how and to what
extent do we compute these complex structures moment-by-moment as we use language
(And what areas of the brain are involved)?
Secondly, to what extent do the
processes involved in using language overlap with other more general cognitive
processes? There is already evidence that some of the more general
characteristics of human cognition, such as limits on our working memory
capacity, influence how people use language. Are there additional
cognitive constraints that have an effect? How much of the cognitive and
neural system that we use for language processing is really specific to
language?
To address these questions, I use
behavioral studies involving reading and listening to language, as well as functional MRI to look at
patterns of neural activity during reading and listening to language. I
am particularly interested in crosslinguistic studies examining multiple
languages that make use of different kinds of complex structures. Here at
University of Rochester, I collaborate on this work with Daphne
Bavelier, Aaron
Newman, and Elissa Newport.
Selected
Publications/Presentations:
Vannest, J., Polk, T. A and Lewis, R. L.
(2005). “Dual-Route Processing of
Complex Words: New fMRI Evidence from Derivational Suffixation”. Cognitive,
Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience 5(1), 67-76.
Vannest, J., Newman, A.J., Newport, E.L.,
Bavelier, D. (2005). Neural
Correlates of Processing of English Inflected Verbs. Presented at the annual
meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, New York.
Vannest, J., Newman, A.J., Newport, E.L.,
Bavelier, D. (2004) Differences in the Neural Correlates of Processing of
English Verb Inflections.
Presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, San
Diego, CA.
Vannest, J., Newman, A.J., Polk, T. A.,
Lewis, R. L. Newport, E. and Bavelier, D. (2004) “fMRI Evidence for Morphological Decomposition during
Lexical Access: Base Frequency and Nonword Effects”. Presented at the Fourth International Conference on the
Mental Lexicon, Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
Vannest, J., Newman, A.J., Polk, T. A.,
Lewis, R. L. Newport, E. and Bavelier, D. (2004) “fMRI evidence that some, but
not all derived words are decomposed during lexical access”. Presented at the
Cognitive Neuroscience Society 11th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA.
Vannest, J., Lewis, R. L., and Polk, T.A. (2003) “Imaging the neural correlates of
processing difficulty in center-embeddings and garden paths: What matters is
structural working memory load, not ambiguity.” Presented at the 2003 CUNY Conference on Sentence
Processing, Boston, MA.
Vannest, J., Bertram, R., Jarvikivi, J. and
Niemi, J. (2002).
"Counterintuitive Cross-Linguistic Differences: More morphological computation in
English than in Finnish". Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 31, 83-106.
Vannest, J. and Boland, J. E. (1999). "Lexical Morphology and
Lexical Access". Brain and Language 68, 324-332.
Teaching:
BCS 265, Language
and the Brain
BCS 111, Foundations of Cognitive Science
BCS 513, MR Imaging: from Spins to Brains
Some of the best things
about Rochester:
Photography and film:
www.eastman.org
www.little-theatre.com
Independent college radio:
www.modernmusicandmore.com
www.wber.monroe.edu
The worst thing about Rochester: the weather
www.wunderground.com
Other favorite things:
20th century art and design (Eames chairs and
starburst clocks)
www.sfmoma.org
www.eamesoffice.com
Urban architecture (especially Detroit... )
www.detroityes.com
A weird assortment of rock bands
www.firewater.tv
www.interpolny.com
www.gbv.com
www.themarsvolta.com
www.swinginutters.com
The Buckeyes! (I'll always be an Ohio girl at
heart...)
www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com