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LRDC and the Brain Institute

The Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC) is an internationally renown center for research on learning and education, spanning basic academic domains of reading and mathematics, and extending to innovative research in educational technology, social and motivational aspects of learning, and cognitive neuroscience. Advances in human brain imaging have allowed LRDC researchers to study the functional networks of the brain that support learning, including reading, mathematical understanding, and language learning. From lab-based studies of learning to read in a second language to iPad displays of connections inside the brain, LRDC has developed a strong research component that reflects the importance of understanding the brain bases of learning. Visit The University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute website


Current Brain Institute Researchers

Marc Coutanche

Marc Coutanche

Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology
Member, CNBC
Research Scientist, LRDC

Our memory is built on connections: with perceptual systems, between different fragments of knowledge, and across brain systems. My lab examines how these connections form, by working at the intersection of memory and perception. In recent cognitive investigations, my lab has found that introducing new words and images to people in ways that might help rapidly incorporate new information into their memory networks. We also ask how sleep aids memory formation, and the basis for individual differences in memory performance. Our brain imaging research uses computational techniques to "decode" brain activity recorded during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans as we learn and remember. These kinds of approaches are very powerful at tracking and predicting memory successes and failures from patterns of brain activity. A basic understanding of these systems is relevant for efforts to understand the brain and cognitive skills of people with learning and memory deficits, such as individuals with dyslexia, learning disorders, Alzheimer's disease, and natural aging. More information can be found at Dr. Coutanche's research website.

Julie Fiez

Julie Fiez

Professor, Department of Neuroscience
Professor, Department of Psychology
Co-Director, The Bridge Center
Member, CNBC
Senior Scientist, LRDC

My lab is studying how the brain represents and learns about words and numbers. We rely on a broad-based and interdisciplinary cognitive neuroscience approach involving behavioral, neuroimaging, and neuropsychological methods across three predominant strands of research. One strand is focused on the neural basis of language processing. Topics of interest include the ways in which different writing systems influence the representation and processing of orthographic information, how articulatory and phonological codes contribute to inner speech processes that are important for reading development and working memory. A second strand is focused on the neural basis of math ability in children and adults. Topics of interest include the delineation of brain regions that contribute to approximate and precise number knowledge, the degree to which math ability rests upon the ability to integrate symbolic and non-symbolic number knowledge, and the overlap between brain regions associated with math and language abilities. A third strand is focused on basic learning systems in the human brain. We are especially interested in how the basal ganglia facilitate individuals' use of information about positive and negative outcomes to subsequently improve their performance on a task, while the cerebellum improves performance by correcting errors or mismatches between intended and actual outcomes. Our research has guided the development of educational interventions that improve basic number representations in the brain and that yield gains in complex math abilities. We are also developing methods that will allow stroke survivors to participate in clinical and research studies through videoconference software and mobile device technology. These methods are allowing us to study how damage to different parts of the brain affect learning, language, and mathematical ability. The results of this research are being used to understand how culturally transmitted skills, such as reading and math, rewire the brain. More information can be found at Dr. Fiez's research website.

Melissa Libertus

Melissa Libertus

Associate Professor, Department of Psychology
Member, CNBC
Research Scientist, LRDC

In the Kids' Thinking Lab (Director: Dr. Melissa Libertus), we explore how children think and especially how they learn about numbers and math in early childhood. We use behavioral and electrophysiological measures (electroencephalography [EEG] and event-related potentials [ERPs]) to examine the earliest foundation of mathematical thinking in infancy and how children use this foundation to learn about math later in life. We also examine the role of parents and teachers in shaping children's emerging mathematical thinking. In one of our current studies, we are looking at parents' and elementary school-aged children's brain activity as they are watching educational videos that contain math and non-math content. We are examining whether parents and children spontaneously process math and non-math content differently in their brains and whether the similarity between a parent and his or her child is greater than between unrelated strangers. We are also examining whether this spontaneous brain activity relates to children's math abilities. Our research has important implications for math education and what shapes individual differences in children's math abilities, especially early in life. More information can be found at Dr. Libertus's research website.

Charles Perfetti

Charles Perfetti

Director, LRDC
Distinguished University Professor, Department of Psychology
Member, CNBC
Director, LRDC

The ability to read is based in an acquired network of brain areas that links visual input with language functions. The focus of our lab is investigating how this ability is developed. Our research addresses 1) the extent to which the brain network is universal across languages and writing systems, for example by comparing Chinese with English reading; 2) the kinds of instruction that support students' learning to read in a new language and writing system; 3) The moment-to-moment brain processes that support reading comprehension; 4) Learning by children and adults of new vocabulary words. In addressing these questions, we use electrophysiology measures (EEGs and Event Related Potentials [ERPs]), fMRI, and behavioral studies. The results of our research add to both the basic science on the neural basis of learning to read and reading comprehension and to translational applications. These applications include how to increase children's vocabulary knowledge, how to enhance foreign language instruction, and how to help children who struggle in reading and reading comprehension. More information can be found at Dr. Perfetti's research website.

Walter Schneider

Walter Schneider

Professor, Department of Psychology
Executive Committee Member, CNBC
Co-Director, The Bridge Center
Senior Scientist, LRDC

Our research focuses on mapping the functional and anatomical network structures of the brain. We have developed methods for studying the connections between brain regions and the changes that can occur as a consequence of learning, development, or traumatic brain injury (TBI) and have generated fundamental advances and new tools for High Definition Fiber Tracking (HDFT). This step forward in imaging technology has opened up new avenues for research and produced tools for understanding how the brain changes in response to learning or injury. See article in September 2015 Discover Magazine "Broken Cables," pages 52-59. More information can also be found at Dr. Schneider's research website.

Natasha Tokowicz

Natasha Tokowicz

Professor, Department of Psychology
Associate Professor, Linguistics
Member, CNBC
Senior Scientist, LRDC

Our main line of research focuses on adult L2 word learning and processing. Most of our research in this area examines the role of translation ambiguity, which occurs when a word in one language has more than one translation to another language. For example, the German word Kiefer translates to the two English words pine and jaw. We ask questions like: Are translation ambiguous words harder to learn? Can the difficulties associated with learning these words be alleviated during instruction? And, are there consequences of learning translation-ambiguous words in a second language for your native language? We conduct training studies to examine these questions, in addition to testing more proficient bilinguals (and in some cases, individuals who were bilinguals from an early age). A second line of research asks the extent to which non-native speakers are sensitive to violations of (morpho)syntax in their second language. In these studies, we emphasize the role of cross-language similarity, and have lately included instructional manipulations as well. We use training studies as well as studies of more proficient speakers (including English as a second language speakers). We are interested in the role of individual differences in language learning, and want to understand why some people are better at learning languages than others. Some of the individual difference factors we explore are related to executive functioning like working memory capacity, whereas others are less cognitive-related, such as musical ability and musical training. We use "event-related brain potentials" (ERPs) to examine the patterns of brain activity that occur during second language processing, because our research suggests that ERPs more sensitively measure what people know than behavioral measures such as asking people to answer whether a sentence is grammatically correct or not. More information can be found at Dr. Tokowicz's research website.

Tessa Warren

Tessa Warren

Associate Professor, Department of Psychology
Affiliated Faculty, Linguistics
Senior Scientist, LRDC

My lab studies how people understand language. We are interested in characterizing the mental system that allows a reader to read or hear a string of words and form an appropriate mental representation based on those words, the context, and their own background knowledge. We have been particularly interested in the way that language comprehenders draw on different kinds of knowledge during comprehension. In one line of this work, we have been collaborating with Dr. Michael Walsh Dickey to study the ways that aphasia might change comprehenders' reliance on and use of different sources of knowledge. More information can be found at Dr. Warren's research website.

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