Publications

Schnur Laboratory

(† Post-doctoral, *Graduate and ^Undergraduate Student Collaborators)

Magnotti, J.F., Patterson, J.S.*, & Schnur, T.T. (2023). Using predictive validity to compare associations between brain damage and behavior. Human Brain Mapping, 44(13), 4738-4753. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.26413 .  Visual abstract available from: https://sites.google.com/site/ttschnur/researchprojects/predictive-validity-comparison-for-lesion-behavior-mapping

Schnur, T.T. & ^Wang, S. (2023). Differences in connected speech outcomes across elicitation methods. Aphasiology, 1-22 . https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2023.2239509 

Zahn, R.*, Schnur, T.T., & Martin, R.C. † (2023). Contributions of semantic and phonological working memory to narrative language independent of single word production: Evidence from acute stroke. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 39(5-8), 296-324. https://doi.org/10.1080/02643294.2023.2186782

Horne, A.*, Ding, J.*, Schnur T.T., Martin, R.C.† (2022). White matter correlates of domain-specific working memory. Brain Sciences, 13(1), 19. PMID: https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13010019

†Ding, J., & Schnur, T.T. (2022). Anterior connectivity critical for recovery of connected speech after stroke. Brain Communications, fcac266. https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcac266 

Using quantitative MRI brain mapping and longitudinal assessments of spontaneous connected speech from the acute through chronic stages of left hemisphere stroke, we revealed that recovery of fluent and structurally complex speech requires acute left frontal connectivity via the frontal aslant tract. 

Schnur, T. T., & †Lei, C. (2022). Assessing naming errors using an automated machine learning approach. Neuropsychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/neu0000860  

After left hemisphere stroke, up to half of people experience language problems, including problems producing words. Sometimes people after stroke produce words that are close in meaning but not what they intended to say, for example saying “violin” when they meant to say harp. This suggests a problem retrieving information related to words and their meanings. However, evaluating these kinds of naming mistakes is typically subjective, takes time, and does not capture how close the speaker’s naming attempt was to what they intended. To address these challenges, we tested object naming in a large group of people within a few days of a left-hemisphere stroke. We showed that a fast and objective computational approach, word2vec, provided an excellent estimate of the problems a person has retrieving information related to words and meanings while also outperforming human judgements. This improved approach to assessing naming will help us better understand how naming errors happen and develop approaches to improve language problems after stroke. 

Martin, R.M., †Ding, J., Hamilton, A.C., Schnur, T.T. (2021). Working memory capacities neurally dissociate: Evidence from acute stroke. Cerebral Cortex Communications, 2, 1-13. PMID: 33870195. https://doi.org/10.1093/texcom/tgab005

Fromm, D., ^Katta, S., *Paccione, M., *Hecht, S., Greenhouse, J., MacWhinney, B., & Schnur, T.T. (2021). A comparison of manual versus automated quantitative production analysis of connected speech. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 64(4), 1271-1282. PMID: 33784197. Available from: https://doi/10.1044/2020_JSLHR-20-00561

Schnur, T.T., †Ding, J., & Blake, M. (2021). Understanding others requires right temporoparietal and inferior frontal regions. BioRxiv 2021.03.31.437941 [Preprint]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.31.437941

†Ding, J., Martin, R., Hamilton, A.C., & Schnur, T.T. (2020). Dissociation between frontal and temporal-parietal contributions to connected speech in acute stroke. Brain, 143(3), 862-876. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awaa027 

Are specific brain regions necessary to combine words using correct syntax? We related patterns of brain damage to speech deficits in 52 speakers during the acute stage of stroke. Damage to posterior and anterior regions affected lexically- and syntactically-driven language production processes, respectively. This work provides a critical update to the classic 19th-20th century view of language based on single word production by identifying the neuroanatomical regions necessary for the real-world phenomenon of spontaneous connected speech.

*Wei, T., & Schnur, T.T. (2019). Neural and linguistic differences explain priming and interference during naming. BioRXiv 547745 [Preprint]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1101/547745

Martin, R.M. & Schnur, T.T. (2019). Independent contributions of semantic and phonological working memory to spontaneous speech in acute stroke. Cortex, 112, 58-68. [PDF]

Patients with left hemisphere stroke often have language deficits which impair their ability to produce phrases and sentences. We demonstrated that a disruption of verbal working memory reduces abilities to produce more words in phrases and longer utterances in individuals at the acute stage of stroke prior to the reorganization of function or strategy development. These results have important clinical implications as improving verbal working memory after stroke could have a direct effect on patients’ ability to produce connected speech.

*Wei, T. & Schnur, T.T. (2019). Being fast or slow at naming depends on recency of experience. Cognition, 182, 165-170. https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1XoCC2Hx2bbiO [PDF]

What we experience in the past positively and negatively affects how we process information in the future. For example, the same previously viewed stimuli change an infant’s preference for future stimuli depending on how long they were viewed (e.g., Hunter & Ames, 1988). We examined whether these memory and attention phenomena occur during language production. Depending on the interval between two naming occurrences, past naming experience produced opposing effects on future naming. Thus, experience changes the cognitive system in similar ways across different cognitive domains.

Schnur, T.T. (2017). Word selection deficits and multiword speech. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 34, 21-25. [PDF]

*Hughes, J.W., & Schnur, T.T. (2017). Facilitation and interference in naming: A consequence of the same learning process? Cognition, 165, 61-72. [PDF]

Our success with naming depends on what we have named previously, a phenomenon thought to reflect learning. Repeatedly producing the same name facilitates language production whereas producing semantically related names hinders subsequent performance. We tested whether learning, a ubiquitous phenomenon across cognitive domains such as vision, memory, and language, governs both the positive and negative effects of naming experience on future naming. Different processes contributed to opposing naming effects of past experience suggesting that different mechanisms underlie the strengthening and weakening of connections during word retrieval in language production.

Shahid, H., Sebastian, R., Schnur, T.T., Hanayik, Y., Wright, A., Tippett, D.C., Fridriksson, J., Rorden, C., & Hillis, A.E. (2017). Important considerations in lesion-symptom mapping: Illustrations from studies of word comprehension. Human Brain Mapping, 38 (6), 2990-3000.

*Geng, J., & Schnur, T.T. (2016). The role of features and categories in the organization of object knowledge: Evidence from adaptation fMRI. Cortex, 78,  174-194. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2016.01.006. [PDF]

*Wei, T., & Schnur, T.T. (2016). Long-term interference at the semantic level: Evidence from blocked-cyclic picture matching. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42, 149-157. [PDF]

*Harvey, D.Y., & Schnur, T.T. (2016). Different loci of semantic interference in picture naming vs. word-picture matching tasks. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1-19. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00710.

*Harvey, D., & Schnur, T.T. (2015). Distinct loci of lexical and semantic access deficits in aphasia: Evidence from voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping and diffusion tensor imaging. Cortex, 67, 37-58. DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2015.03.004. [PDF]

*Geng, J. & Schnur, T.T. (2015). The representation of concrete and abstract concepts: categorical vs. associative relationships. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 41, 22 - 41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0037430. [PDF]

Schnur, T.T. (2014). The persistence of cumulative semantic interference during naming. Journal of Memory and Language, 75, 27 – 44. DOI: 10.1016/j.jml.2014.04.006. [PDF] 

Martin, R., *Yan, H., & Schnur, T.T. (2014). Working memory and planning during sentence production. Acta Psychologica, 152, 120 - 132. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2014.08.006. [PDF].

*Geng, J., Schnur, T.T., & Janssen, N. (2014). Relative speed of processing affects interference in Stroop and picture–word interference paradigms: evidence from the distractor frequency effect. Language, Cognition, and Neuroscience, 29, 1100 – 1114. DOI: 10.1080/01690965.2013.846473. [PDF]

*Harvey, D.Y., *Wei, T., Ellmore, T.M., Hamilton, A.C., & Schnur, T.T. (2013). Neuropsychological evidence for the functional role of the uncinate fasciculus in semantic control. Neuropsychologia, 51, 789-801. [PDF]

*Geng, J., ^Kirchgessner, M., & Schnur, T. T. (2013). The mechanism underlying lexical selection: Evidence from the picture-picture interference paradigm. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,66:2, 261 – 276. [PDF]

Schnur, T.T., & Martin, R. (2012). Semantic picture-word interference is a post-perceptual effect. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 19, 1-8. [PDF]

Schnur, T.T. (2011). Phonological planning during sentence production: Beyond the verb. Frontiers in Psychology, 2:319, 1-15. [PDF]

Schnur, T.T., Schwartz, M.F., Kimberg, D., Hirshorn, E., Coslett, H.B., & Thompson-Schill, S.L. (2009). Localizing interference during naming: Convergent neuroimaging and neuropsychological evidence for the function of Broca's area. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106 (1), 322-327. [PDF] 

Lee, E.Y., Schwartz M.F., Schnur, T.T., & Dell, G.S. (2009). Temporal characteristics of semantic perseverations induced by blocked-cyclic picture naming. Brain and Language, 108, 133 - 143. [PDF]  

Lee, E., Schnur, T.T., & Schwartz, M. (2007). The temporal analysis of semantic perseverations in blocked-cyclic naming. Brain and Language, 103 (1), 173 - 174. [PDF]

Thompson-Schill, S., Schnur, T.T., Hirshorn, E., Schwartz, M., & Kimberg, D. (2007). Regulatory functions of prefrontal cortex during single word production. Brain and Language, 103 (1), 171 - 172. [PDF]

Schnur, T.T., Schwartz, M.F., Brecher, A., & Hodgson, C. (2006). Semantic interference during blocked-cyclic naming: Evidence from aphasia. Journal of Memory and Language 54 (2), 199-227. [PDF]

Schnur, T.T., Costa, A., & Caramazza, A. (2006). Planning at the phonological level during sentence production. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 193 (1), 1 – 25. [PDF]

Schnur, T.T., Lee, E., Coslett, H.B., Schwartz, M.F., & Thompson-Schill, S.L. (2005). When lexical selection gets tough, the LIFG gets going: A lesion analysis study of interference during word production. Brain and Language, 95(1), 12 – 13. [PDF]

Hodgson C, Schwartz MF, Schnur, T.T., & Brecher A. (2005). Facilitation and interference in phonological blocked-cyclic naming. Brain and Language, 95(1), 46 – 47.  [PDF]

Schnur, T.T., Brecher, A., Rossi, A., & Schwartz, M.F. (2004). Errors of lexical selection during high and low semantic competition. Brain and Language, 91(1), 7-8. [PDF]

Schnur, T.T., Costa, A., & Caramazza, A. (2002). Verb production and the semantic interference effect. Journal of Cognitive Science, 3(1), 1 – 26. [PDF]

Simons, D. J., Chabris, C. F., Schnur, T.T., & Levin, D. T. (2002).  Evidence for preserved representations in change blindness.  Consciousness and Cognition, 11, 78-97.  [PDF]

Perani, D., Cappa, S.F., Schnur, T., Tettamanti, M., Collina, S., Miguel-Rosa, M., Fazio, F. (1999). The neural correlates of verb and noun processing: a PET study. Brain, 122, 2337 - 2344. [PDF]

Perani, D., Schnur, T., Tettamanti, M., Gorno-Tempini, M., Cappa, S.F., Fazio, F. (1999). Word and picture matching: a PET study of semantic category effects. Neuropsychologia, 37, 293 – 306. [PDF]

Cappa, S.F., Perani, D., Schnur, T., Tettamanti, M., Fazio, F.  The effects of semantic category and knowledge type on lexical-semantic access: a PET study. (1998). Neuroimage, 8(4), 350 – 359. [PDF]

Osherson, D., Perani, D., Cappa, S.F., Schnur, T., Grassi, F., Fazio, F.  Distinct brain loci in deductive versus probabilistic reasoning.  (1998). Neuropsychologia, 36(4), 369 - 376. [PDF]

Poline, J.B., Vandenberghe, R., Holmes, A.P., Friston, K.J., Frackowiak, R.S.J. * Reproducibility of PET activation studies: Lessons from a multi-centre European experiment. (1996).  Neuroimage, 4, 34 - 54.  * Data collection from PET centres in: Cologne, Copenhagen, Duesseldorf, Essen London, Groningen, Leuven, Liege, Lyon, Milano:  (Bettinardi, V., Cappa, S.F., Fazio, F., Gorno-Tempini, M., Grassi, F., Perani, D., Schnur, TT, Striano G.), Orsay, and Stockholm. [PDF]