Laterality of Cognitive Functions

It is a well known idea that the human is not only asymmetrical in structure, but also in function. More simply, the two halves of the brain are known to mediate certain mental functions in an asymmetrical manner. For example, the left hemisphere is more adept at handling functions related to the use of language, motor activities, arithmetic and local level of perception, the right hemisphere is better at handling the visual perception tasks, like judgment of symmetry, color, face detection, emotion perception and so on. We are interested in investigating, the nature and the consequences of the asymmetry in brain function.

At the moment, we are investigating asymmetry in attentional functions, symmetry perception, tool recognition, facial recognition, and word recognition and so on.

Visual Word Recognition

One of the most fascinating feats achieved by humans post the establishment of civilisation, is that of learning to read. So much so, that there are particular areas in the brain that are dedicated to processing of scripts and helping us read. We are interested in how does the human brain achieve and manage this feat of reading, both at the level of single words and sentence level. We are specifically interested in investigating the problem of reading from the psycholinguistic perspective, i.e. understanding the mental processes that help us navigate the scripts and reach the meaning of written text.

More specifically, we are engaged in investigating the parameters of visual word recognition in Hindi, as opposed to scripts for which we already have a lot of data. Hindi, being a peculiarly different script from the Roman, alphabetic and syllabic scripts, offers a range of opportunities to understand some of basic underlying processes in reading.

Corpus Linguistics

Linguistic corpora have been great source of information for both linguists and psycholinguists who are interested in discerning patterns in people's production, comprehension and use of language. Interestingly, while a range of corpora are available for many languages of the world, for example, English, Dutch, German, French, Spanish, etc., there are almost no large scale corpora for Indian languages that provide information about psycholinguistic variables. We have developed the SHABD: Psycholinguistic Corpus for Hindi, and are interested and looking for collaborators to develop similar corpora for other Indian languages as well. Please contact us, if you are interested in partnering us for that. 

Attention, Perception and Social Cognition

Attention and Perception are the two most basic mental functions on which a lot of other higher - order cognitive processes built upon. We are interested in investigating some of basic questions about various phenomenon in the field of attention and perception. For example, the lateralisation of attentional processes, influence of anxiety on attentional processing, executive processes etc. 

Also, Sui & Humphreys (2011) showed that linking arbitrary shapes (circle, triangle, square) with labels like (you, friend mother) may lead to differential processing advantages at the level of perception, attention, memory and decision making. We are interested in investigating how the concept of self, or probably it's instantiations  may affect the interplay of these processes. Whether 'self' is really a 'glue' for binding initial perceptual - attentional processes.

Bilingualism

We interested in how people manage to acquire, produce and comprehend more than one language. Also, how the practice with managing the two languages may/may not have consequences for other mental processes. We are also interested in how knowledge of a second language (L2) might affect linguistic processing for the first language (L1), in terms of functions, like word processing, sentence comprehension, production and the like.

Lab Projects

Investigating the Role of Attentional Bias in Anxiety: A Multifactorial Approach Using Behavioral & Online Measures (2015 – present) - We are trying to investigate the role of attentional bias in anxiety. The approach seeks to test the Attentional Control Theory (Eyesenck et al., 2007), which proposes that anxiety impairs attentional control, and seeks to examine the role of anxiety in a variety of attentional & executive control processes. We are using  behavioral (Reaction time, Accuracy) based measures on a large number of subjects to uncover the relationship between the said factors on a range of experimental tasks. 

Investigating the Self – Perception Bias: We are investigating whether the preference for perceiving information relevant to the self – concept is a property of the perceptual – attentional system or more of a cultural artifact motivated by cultural values of individualism vs. collectivism. 

Investigating the Perception of Symmetry across the two Cerebral Hemispheres: We are currently interested in figuring out whether the perception of symmetry is mediated by right or the left cerebral hemisphere preferentially. 

Sponsored Projects

Investigating Visual Word Processing in Hindi (2017 – present): In this DST – Sponsored Research project we are investigating the visual processing of Hindi words. Visual processing used to read Hindi words is special because of the unique characteristics of the Devanagari Script, in that it has non – linear markings in addition to larger grain size of letters, better known as ‘aksharas’ in Hindi. 

Investigating the Lateralization of Attentional Processes (2016 – present): In this project funded by DST – INSPIRE Faculty Award, we are investigating whether various processes in attention (orienting, alerting, inhibition; attentional blink; & space vs. object based attention) are preferentially processed by either of the two cerebral hemispheres. At present the first phase of behavioral experiments is completed. We are now looking for more tasks to examine the effects. The research is motivated by findings of weak lateralization of attention & executive control processes in patents of alzheimer’s disease and fronto – temporal dementias and we are looking to develop a battery of tasks to examine & diagnose the same. The findings may be relevant for developing rehab methods for such patients.