Our lab, led by William W. Graves, Ph.D., researches the neurobiology of language, with particular emphasis on reading. We seek to answer questions such as, how does the brain translate concepts into speech, and how does the brain map from letter strings to sound and meaning? By understanding these fundamental processes, we hope to ultimately help those with language or reading disorders, such as aphasia or dyslexia.

 

To carry out these investigations, we use techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), magnetoencephalography (MEG), behavioral measurements, computational modeling, neuroimaging genetics, and brain lesion-deficit correlations.

 

News

Ryan Staples presenting his slide talk at the 2022 Academy of Aphasia meeting in Philadelphia on computational modeling of stroke-acquired dyslexia and its treatment:

Will Graves presenting his slide talk at the 2022 Academy of Aphasia, followed by a joint Q&A with Ryan Staples:

Hillary Levinson, a doctoral student in our lab, presented her work on functional connectivity of semantics-related brain areas in neurotypicals and participants on the autism spectrum at the 2019 meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Chicago.

Ryan Staples, a doctoral student in our lab, presented his cool work on using computational models of reading to interpret fMRI data on reading at the 2019 meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society in San Francisco.

Dr. William Graves, our lab’s PI, presented his work called “Distinct computational models of reading correspond to distinct but similar neural activation patterns” at the 2018 CCN (Cognitive Computational Neuroscience) Conference in Philadelphia, PA. Take a look at the talk below!

 

Samantha Mattheiss, PhD candidate, presented at the 2017 SRCD meeting in Austin Texas on “Elaborative Feedback: Engaging Reward and Task Relevant Brain Region Promotes Learning in Nonword Reading Aloud”