fMRI research

I collaborated on a projected that examined age-related differences in language production and how such differences relate to behavior and functional activity. The goal of the study was to test whether increasing task demands on speech production could differentially affect older adults’ ability to recruit language processing regions when compared to younger adults. I contributed in data collection and in design of a novel modification of a Go/No-Go picture naming paradigm, which participants completed inside the scanner. Although data collection for older adults is ongoing, results for younger adults showed that, with greater task difficulty, participants’ behavioral performance declined and brain activation generally increased in both typical language processing regions but also domain-general control regions. The results of the study provide evidence supporting a link between cognitive control processes and language performance.

Collaborators: Haoyun Zhang (Penn State University), Anna Eppes (Penn State University), Christian Navarro-Torres (University of California, Riverside) & Michele Díaz (Penn State University)

Publications:

Zhang, H., Eppes, A., Beatty-Martínez, A. L., Navarro-Torres, C. A., & Diaz, M. T. (2018). Task difficulty modulates brain-behavior correlations in language production and cognitive control: Behavioral and fMRI evidence from a phonological Go – No-Go picture naming paradigm. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience. Doi: 10.3758/s13415-018-0616-2.