Natasha Tokowicz

Associate Dean for Equity, Faculty Development, and Community Engagement in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences

Professor, University of Pittsburgh Department of Psychology

Professor (secondary appointment), University of Pittsburgh Department of Linguistics

Member, University of Pittsburgh Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition

Senior Scientist, Learning Research & Development Center

Lab

https://www.plumlab.pitt.edu/

Education and Training

PhD, The Pennsylvania State University

Research Interests

  • Second language learning
  • Bilingualism
  • Meaning representation
  • Cognitive neuroscience of language processing

2nd Language Learning Bilingualism Cognitive Neuroscience Comprehension Imaging Methods Learning & Memory Reading Processes

Related Research Areas

Cognitive & Neural Foundations of Learning Reading & Language

Recent Publications

Tokowicz, N. (2023). The translation ambiguity disadvantage in language processing. In I. Lacruz (Ed.), Translation in Transition: Human and machine intelligence (pp. 183-203). John Benjamins Publishing Company 

Tokowicz, N., Rice, C., & Ekves, Z. (2022). Learning the two translations of translation ambiguous words: Simultaneous vs. consecutive presentation.  Second Language Research.

Wiener, S., & Tokowicz, N. (2021). Language proficiency is only part of the story: Lexical access in heritage and non-heritage bilinguals. Second Language Research, 37, 681–695.

Tocowicz, N., & Degani, T. (2021). Design challenges: development of bilingual materials and making appropriate comparisons. In W.S Francis (Eds.), Bilingualism Across the Lifespan. New York: Routledge

Bruett, H., Calloway, R.C., Tokowicz, N. & Coutanche, M.N. (2020). Neural pattern similarity across concept exemplars predicts memory after a long delay. NeuroImage, 219.

Natasha Tokowicz's Google Scholar profile

News and Awards

The Dietrich School’s new Equity and Community Engagement Team—which consists of LRDC Senior Scientist Natasha Tokowicz, associate dean for equity, faculty development, and community engagement, and Jim Griffin, director, equity and community engagement—was featured in January 24 Wide Angle "New Equity and Community Engagement Team Fosters Belonging in the Dietrich School"

January 29, 2024

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LRDC members of the University Senate’s Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Discrimination Advocacy Committee (EIADAC) Natasha Tokowicz and Kelly Tatone wrote a letter to the editor in the University Times, titled "Letter to the editor: EIADAC says Pitt must reaffirm its support for LGBTQIA+ students through action."

April 17, 2023

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Natasha Tokowicz, PI, and Bob Slevc, co-Investigator, University of Maryland, were awarded a new grant from NSF for "Working Memory as Mediating the Role of Music in Learning of a Second Language."

September 2020

Kudos to Natasha Tokowicz, who was named a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (APS) in 2019. Fellow status is awarded to APS members who have made sustained outstanding contributions to the science of psychology in the areas of research, teaching, service, and/or application.

July 13, 2020

Kudos to PI Marc Coutanche and co-I Natasha Tokowicz for NSF-funded research examining how the brain represents different granularities of a concept (animal, mammal, dog, Labrador, Fido). The work will use a series of fMRI experiments to test competing hypotheses for how the corresponding brain activity influences new learning, retrieval, and consolidation through sleep.

June 12, 2020

[Person photo]

Contact

530 MURDC

tokowicz@pitt.edu

(412) 624-7026

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