Neal Pearlmutter
Degrees/Education
1989-1993 Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Ph.D., Cognitive Science Dissertation: Ambiguity Resolution and Constraints on Syntactic Processing
1985-1989 Amherst College: A.B., magna cum laude, Cognitive Science Thesis: The Use of Semantic Information in the Syntactic Processor
Area(s) of Expertise
Psychology of Language
Research Interests
We investigate how people produce and comprehend language, focusing on mental representations and processes related to dealing with sentences. Regarding language production, we examine how people choose a particular sequence of words to express some particular meaning that they wish to convey. Regarding language comprehension, we examine how people combine the meanings of a sequence of words (like the ones in this sentence) to construct the meaning of an entire sentence.
Current topics and issues under investigation include ambiguity resolution, speech errors, interactions between memory and language processes, individual differences in language ability, cross-linguistic differences in language processing, functional neuroimaging of language processes, and interactions between detailed knowledge of word meaning and word use in sentences.
Location
125 Nightingale