Research

Bilingual Language Processing

Have you ever wondered how bilinguals are able to navigate their languages successfully, or how being bilingual shapes cognition? Across multiple studies, I investigate these questions and others. Posters are available upon request.

Publications

Ratiu, I., Hout, M. C., Walenchok, S., Azuma, T., & Goldinger, S. D. (2017). Comparing visual search and eye movements in bilinguals and monolinguals. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 79(6), 1695-1725. doi:10.3758/s13414-017-1328-3 Link

Ratiu, I., & Azuma, T. (2015). Working memory capacity: Is there a bilingual advantage? Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 27(1), 1-11. doi:10.1080/20445911.2014.976226 Link

Presentations

*Denotes student presenter

*Syed, F., & Ratiu, I. Impact of bilingual language experience on episodic memory. Poster accepted to the Arizona Speech-Language Hearing Association Convention, Litchfield, AZ. April, 2020.

Ratiu, I., & Azuma, T. ¿Quién Dijo What? Source Language and Voice Memory in Bilingual Speakers. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, New Orleans, LA. November, 2018.

Ratiu, I., & Azuma, T. Bilingual recognition memory and confidence judgments in a cross-language levels-of-processing task. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Boston, MA. November, 2016.

Ratiu, I., & Azuma, T. Symmetry and asymmetry: Working memory and language proficiency in bilinguals. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Long Beach, CA. November, 2014.

Ratiu, I., Hout, M. C., Walenchok, S., Azuma, T., & Goldinger, S. D. The bilingual advantage in switching investigated using visual search. Poster presented at the 22nd Annual Object Perception, Attention and Memory Conference: Long Beach, CA. November, 2014.

Ratiu, I., & Azuma, T. Reading “libro” but remembering “book”: Bilingual language and memory processing in a cross-language levels-of-processing task. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Toronto, ON, Canada. November, 2013.

Ratiu, I., Hout, M. C., Azuma, T., & Goldinger, S. D. The bilingual advantage investigated using visual search. Poster presented at the 21st annual Object Perception, Attention and Memory Conference: Toronto, Canada. November, 2013.

Ratiu, I., & Azuma, T. Working memory capacity: Is there a bilingual advantage? Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Minneapolis, MN. November, 2012.

Ratiu, I., & Azuma, T. Cross-language semantic satiation: Mass repetition affects more than one language. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Seattle, WA. November, 2011.

OTher DIsorders and Cognitive Processing

Executive function can be impacted in many ways. Individuals with certain hereditary disorders, such as Marfan Syndrome may experience difficulties in executive function, speech, and swallowing. Posters are available upon request.

Publications

Baylow, H. E., Esfandiarei, M., & Ratiu, I. (2022). Swallowing and quality of life in individuals with Marfan syndrome: A cross-sectional study. Quality of Life Research, 31, 3365–3375. doi:10.1007/s11136-022-03192-1 Link

Baylow, H. E., Esfandiarei, M., & Ratiu, I. (2022). Voice symptoms and quality of life in individuals with Marfan syndrome: A cross-sectional study. Journal of Voice. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2022.04.003 Link

*Nielsen, C., Ratiu, I., Esfandiarei, M., Chen, A., & Tierney, E.S.S. (2019). A review of psychosocial factors of Marfan syndrome: Adolescents, adults, family, and providers. Journal of Pediatric Genetics, 8(3) 109-122. doi:10.1055/s-0039-1693663 Link

Ratiu, I., Virden, T., Baylow, H. E., Flint, M., & Esfandiarei, M. (2018). Executive function and quality of life in Individuals with Marfan syndrome. Quality of Life Research, 27(8), 2057-2065. doi:10.1007/s11136-018-1859-7 Link

Presentations

*Denotes student presenter

Baylow, H. E., Ratiu, I., & Esfandiarei, M. The relationship between medications, vocal difficulty, and quality-of-life in those with Marfan syndrome. Poster presented at the American Speech-Language Hearing Association Annual Convention, New Orleans, LA. November, 2022.

Baylow, H. E., Esfandiarei, M., & Ratiu, I. The relationship between medications, swallowing difficulty, and quality-of-life in those with Marfan syndrome. Poster presented virtually at the Annual Meeting of the Dysphagia Research Society, March, 2022.

Wolford, L., Ratiu, I., Baylow, H., Esfandiarei, M. Voice differences and quality of life in individuals with Marfan syndrome. Poster presented at virtual Voice Foundation’s Annual Symposium. May, 2020.

Wolford, L., Ratiu, I., Baylow, H., Esfandiarei, M. Voice differences and quality of life in individuals with Marfan syndrome. Paper presented at Pan American Vocology Association Annual Symposium, Santiago, Chile October, 2019.

Baylow, H. E., Ratiu, I., Esfandiarei, M. Swallowing and voice symptoms in Marfan Syndrome. Poster presented at the American Speech-Language Hearing Association Annual Convention, Los Angeles, CA. November, 2017.

Ratiu, I., Esfandiarei, M., Virden, T., Baylow, H. E., Flint, M., & Bhargava, R. Executive function and quality of life in Marfan Syndrome. Paper presented at the Arizona Speech-Language Hearing Association Convention, Tucson, AZ. April, 2017.

Baylow, H. E., Ratiu, I., Esfandiarei, M., Virden, T., & Bhargava, R. Dysphagia symptoms and Quality of Life (QOL) in patients with Marfan Syndrome. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Dysphagia Research Society, Portland, OR. March, 2017.

Neurological DIsorders and Cognitive Processing

Traumatic brain injury impacts cognition and communication in a number of ways. Those who are bilingual and multilingual may experience additional difficulties related to language processing, translation, and switching between languages. Posters are available upon request.

Publications

Ratiu, I., Fissel-Brannick, S., *Whiting, M., *Murnion, L., & Azuma, T. (2022). The impact of mild traumatic brain injury on reading comprehension and eye movements: Preliminary results. Journal of Communication Disorders. 96(March-April). doi:10.1016/j.jcomdis.2022.106197 Link

Ratiu, I., & Azuma, T. (2020). Assessment of executive function in bilingual adults with history of mild traumatic brain injury. Brain Impairment. 21(1), 32-46. doi:10.1017/BrImp.2019.17 Link

Christensen, S., Wright, H.H., & Ratiu, I. (2018). Working memory in aphasia: Peeling the onion. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 48, 117-132. doi:10.1016/j.jneuroling.2018.02.001

Ratiu, I., & Azuma, T. (2017). Language control in bilingual adults with and without history of mild traumatic brain injury. Brain and Language, 166, 29-39. doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2016.12.004 Link

Presentations

*Denotes student presenter

Ratiu, I., & LaCroix, A.N. Alerting, orienting, and executive control attention in individuals with chronic mild traumatic brain injury. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society. Boston, MA. November, 2022.

Ratiu, I., *Greene-Winek, A., *Simon, S., *Groth, H., LaCroix, A.N. Are complex verbal tasks more sensitive to deficits of mild traumatic brain injury? Poster presented at the virtual Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, New Orleans, LA. November, 2021.

*Green-Winek, A., LaCroix, A.N., Ratiu, I. Executive function and lexical access in individuals with mild traumatic brain injury. Poster presented at the virtual Annual Kenneth Suarez Research Day, Glendale, Arizona. April, 2021.

*Groth, H., Ratiu, I., LaCroix, A.N. The relationship between word finding and cognition: An eye-tracking study. Poster presented at the virtual Annual Kenneth Suarez Research Day, Glendale, Arizona. April, 2021.

Ratiu, I., & Azuma, T. Bilingualism and mild traumatic brain injury: Preliminary results from eye-movements during reading. Poster presented at the virtual Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society. November, 2020.Ratiu, I., *Whiting, M. Effects of auditory distraction on cognition and eye movements in adults with mild traumatic brain injury. Poster presented at the Annual Auditory Perception, Cognition, and Action Meeting, Montreal, Canada. November, 2019.

*Whiting, M., & Ratiu, I. The impact of noise on memory and reading comprehension in adults with mild traumatic brain injury. Poster accepted to the Arizona Speech-Language Hearing Association Convention, Litchfield, AZ. April, 2020.

Christensen, S., *Dallal, N., & Ratiu, I. Executive control and aphasia: Do self-ratings or caregiver ratings best predict performance? Poster presented at the Clinical Aphasiology Conference, Whitefish, MT. May, 2019.

*Wilson, K., Christensen, S. C., Ratiu, I., Brobeck, T., Macpherson, C. Effects of pragmatic deficits on quality of life in aphasia. Poster presented at the American Speech-Language Hearing Association Annual Convention, Boston, MA. November, 2018.

Ratiu, I., Powell, J., & Christensen, S. C. Predictors of neurological disorders in older adults. Poster presented at the Arizona Speech-Language Hearing Association Annual Convention, Tucson, AZ. April, 2018.

Ratiu, I., *Murnion, L.L., Fissel, S. N., Azuma, T. Eye movements and reading comprehension in individuals with mild traumatic brain injury. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Vancouver, Canada. November, 2017.Ratiu, I., & Azuma, T. Executive function & language control in bilinguals with mTBI. Paper presented at the American Speech-Language Hearing Association Annual Convention, Denver, CO. November, 2015.

Ratiu, I. The effects of traumatic brain injury on bilingual language control. Paper presented at the Arizona Speech-Language Hearing Association Convention, Tempe, AZ. April, 2015.

Ratiu, I. The effects of brain injury on cognitive processing in bilingual speakers. Paper presented at the Graduate and Professional Student Association Interdisciplinary Research Symposium, Tempe, AZ. March, 2015.

Invited Presentations

Ratiu, I. (September, 2021). National Association of State Head Injury Administrators State of the States Annual Conference. “Traumatic Brain Injury and Bilingualism: Considerations for Bilingual Language and Cognition.” Virtual Presentation.

Ratiu, I. (June, 2021). Brain Injury Association of Vermont. “Language and Cognition following Traumatic Brain Injury.” Virtual Presentation.

Ratiu, I. (December 2020). Brain Health Symposium. “The Impact of Brain Injury on Bilingual Language and Cognition.” Phoenix, Arizona.

Ratiu, I. (September 2018). The State of Concussion in Arizona. “The Hidden Costs of Mild TBI in Young Adults.” Phoenix, Arizona.

Ratiu, I. (December 2018). KFNX 1100 Independent Talk. “Healthy Aging for Seniors.” Phoenix, Arizona.

Ratiu, I. (May 2016). “Executive Function and Language Control in Bilinguals with a History of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.” College of Health Sciences Monthly Research Forum, Midwestern University.

Bilingualism in pediatric populations

Presentations

Woolpert, D., Ratiu, I. Cross-linguistic effects on Spanish-Speaking dual-language learner children’s lexical processing of English. Poster presented at the American Speech-Language Hearing Association Annual Convention, Orlando, FL. November, 2019.

Runnion, E., Ratiu, I., Restrepo, A., Gray, S., Gorin, J., Thompson, M. Comparing the measurement structure of a language screener between Spanish-speaking children with and without language impairment. Poster presented at the 35th Annual Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders, Madison, WI. June, 2014.