The Language Neuroscience Laboratory is located in the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
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About us
Research in the Language Neuroscience Laboratory focuses on understanding the neural basis of language. We combine structural and functional neuroimaging techniques with linguistic analysis to study language processing, and how it breaks down in patients with different kinds of aphasia. We work with patients with aphasias of various etiologies, including stroke and neurodegenerative disease. Language domains of particular interest are syntactic processing and lexical access.
News
May 11, 2019
Auditory-perceptual rating of connected speech in aphasia
We describe a system for assessing connected speech in aphasia, based on the auditory-perceptual approach that is used in the assessment and diagnosis of motor speech disorders. We show that APROCSA is reliable and valid, and in our sample, explains 79% of the variance in connected speech profiles in terms of four latent factors: Paraphasia, Logopenia, Agrammatism, and Motor Speech.
Casilio M, Rising K, Beeson PM, Bunton K, Wilson SM. Auditory-perceptual rating of connected speech in aphasia. Am J Speech Lang Pathol 2019; in press. [pdf]
May 10, 2019
We escaped!
We made it out of "The Inheritance"--the toughest escape room in Nashville!
April 30, 2019
Lunch with Jane Wilkerson Yount
We had a great lunch with Jane Wilkerson Yount (seated), who generously endowed the Wilkerson Yount Research Fund in 2017. This fund supports research in adult neurogenic communication disorders at the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center, and will be supporting a new investigation into treated recovery from post-stroke aphasia. Standing: Stephen Wilson, Melissa Duff, and Anne Marie Tharpe.
March 22, 2019
Neurobiology of Language
The new open access journal Neurobiology of Language launches tomorrow, supported by the Society for the Neurobiology of Language and MIT Press. I'm proud to serve as an inaugural member of the editorial board. Thanks to the editors-in-chief Steve Small and Kate Watkins, and everyone who made this possible.
November 17, 2018
ASHA Research Symposium
I will present some of our recent work as part of the 2018 ASHA Research Symposium "Advances in Neuroplasticity Research: Language Recovery in Aphasia".
October 19, 2018
Workstation
Vintage IBM keyboard molded from Toblerone (among other features)...
August 17, 2018
Society for the Neurobiology of Language, Quebec City, 2018
July 31, 2018
An adaptive semantic matching paradigm for reliable and valid language mapping in individuals with aphasia
We describe an adaptive semantic matching paradigm and demonstrate that it is a feasible, reliable and valid method for mapping language regions in people with aphasia.
Wilson SM, Yen M, Eriksson DK. An adaptive semantic matching paradigm for reliable and valid language mapping in individuals with aphasia. Hum Brain Mapp 2018; 39: 3285-307. [pdf]
June 14, 2018
Neural representation of vowel formants in tonotopic auditory cortex
Cortical encoding of vowels is scaffolded on tonotopy, a fundamental organizing principle of auditory cortex that is not language-specific.
Fisher JM, Dick FK, Levy DF, Wilson SM. Neural representation of vowel formants in tonotopic auditory cortex. NeuroImage 2018; 178: 574-82. [pdf]
February 12, 2018
Selective interference with syntactic encoding during sentence production by direct electrocortical stimulation of the inferior frontal gyrus
Direct cortical stimulation of the left inferior frontal gyrus can interfere with syntactic encoding but not single word processing, suggesting that this region plays an important role in the encoding of syntactic structure during sentence production.
Chang EF, Kurteff G, Wilson SM. Selective interference with syntactic encoding during sentence production by direct electrocortical stimulation of the inferior frontal gyrus. J Cogn Neurosci 2018; 30: 411-20. [pdf]
February 9, 2018
A quick aphasia battery for efficient, reliable, and multidimensional assessment of language function
The Quick Aphasia Battery (QAB) aims to provide a reliable and multidimensional assessment of language function in about a quarter of an hour, bridging the gap between comprehensive batteries and rapid screening instruments.
Wilson SM, Eriksson DK, Schneck SM, Lucanie JM. A quick aphasia battery for efficient, reliable, and multidimensional assessment of language function. PLOS ONE 2018; 13(2): e0192773. [pdf]
January 10, 2018
New paper
November 10, 2017
Society for the Neurobiology of Language, Baltimore, 2017
October 19, 2017
My brain in the form of chocolates
An amazing birthday gift from my lab members! Probably not the intended use of Vanderbilt's 3D printer...
September 20, 2017
Wernicke's model of language
Credit: Deborah Levy.