Research
Language
Psycholinguistics
Brain
Cognitive Neuroimaging
Behavior
Affective Neuroscience
Two lines of research:
[1] language system, and [2] language & behavior/cognition
[1] language system, and [2] language & behavior/cognition
Language System and Language impairments [1]
Current work:
Quick Aphasia Battery in PPA: Screening for language and behavioral symptoms in understudied contexts (e.g., rural settings, under-resourced communities)
Smartphone Action Rapid Naming Test (in collaboration with UCSF: The ALLFTD study): Screening for early cognitive decline by examining verb motility and fronto-striatal network.
Neurocognitive patterns of verb production therapy: a single case with logopenic variant PPA
Categorical Ambiguity in PPA: examining the mechanisms underlying categorical ambiguity (i.e., disambiguation) by contrasting models (lexical vs. perceptual-embodiment) and taking advantage of unique neurodegenerative syndromes.
Morphosyntax in PPA and Stroke aphasia across standard tests and connected speech
Minimalist Grammars (MGs) and expectation-based (e-MGs) approaches to syntax (in collaboration with Dr. Chesi): predicting case checking, thematic role assignment, and memory tenure during syntax processing in PPA.
In progress:
Lukic, S., Barbieri, E., Rogalski, E. J., Weintraub, S., Marsel-Mesulam, M., & Thompson, K. C (In prep). Neural correlates of transitive and finite verb production deficits in Primary Progressive Aphasia: the role of inferior parietal and frontal regions. (Presented at the Society for Neurobiology of Language, Oct 7, 2022).
Key outputs:
Lukic, S., Fan, Z., Garcia., A., Welch, A., Madelli, M.L., Wilson, S., Miller, B., & Gorno-Tempini, M. L. (2023). Discriminating nonfluent/agrammatic and logopenic PPA variants with automated morphosyntactic measures. Cortex.
Barbieri, E., Lukic, S., Rogalski, E., Weintraub, S., Mesulam, M. M., & Thompson, C. K. (2023). Neural mechanisms of sentence production: a volumetric study of primary progressive aphasia. Cerebral Cortex, bhad470. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhad470
Lukic*, S., Krauska*, A., Yoshida, M., & Thompson, C. K. (2023). The role of category ambiguity in normal and impaired lexical processing: can you paint without the paint?. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 17, 188. PDF
Lukic*, S., Licata, A. E., Weis, E., Bogley, R., Ratnasiri, B., Welch, A. E., ... & Borghesani, V. (2022). Auditory verb generation performance patterns dissociate variants of Primary Progressive Aphasia. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 887591. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.887591. PDF
Lukic, S., Borghesani, V., Weis, E., Welch, A., Bogley, R., Neuhaus, J., ... & Gorno-Tempini, M. L. (2021). Dissociating nouns and verbs in temporal and perisylvian networks: Evidence from neurodegenerative diseases. Cortex, 142, 47-61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2021.05.006 PDF
Lukic, S., Thompson, C. K., Barbieri, E., Chiappetta, B., Bonakdarpour, B., Kiran, S., ... & Caplan, D. (2021). Common and distinct neural substrates of sentence production and comprehension. NeuroImage, 224, 117374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117374 PDF
Lukic, S., Meltzer-Asscher, A., Higgins, J., Parrish, T. B., & Thompson, C. K. (2019). Neurocognitive correlates of category ambiguous verb processing: The single versus dual lexical entry hypotheses. Brain and language, 194, 65-76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2019.04.005 PDF
Lukic, S., Barbieri, E., Wang, X., Caplan, D., Kiran, S., Rapp, B., ... & Thompson, C. K. (2017). Right hemisphere grey matter volume and language functions in stroke aphasia. Neural plasticity. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/5601509; PMCID: PMC5441122. PDF
Thompson, C. K., Lukic, S., King, M. C., Mesulam, M. M., & Weintraub, S. (2012). Verb and noun deficits in stroke-induced and primary progressive aphasia: The Northwestern Naming Battery. Aphasiology, 26(5), 632-655. Aphasiology, 26: 632-655. https://doi.org/10.1080/02687038.2012.676852; PMCID: PMC3505449. PDF
Categorical Ambiguity
“Can you paint without a paint?”
Single vs Dual Lexical Entry
Lexical retrieval
“I can’t think of the word?”
Nouns vs Verbs
Syntax
“Who did what to whom?”
Canonical vs Non-canonical
Language and Behavior/Cognition [2]
Language and Emotion
Project #1
How do words and concepts influence emotional regulation in normal aging?
The findings from this study suggest a powerful relationship between language and emotional experience and indicate that, consistent with prior studies, using precise emotion words to label feelings is adaptive and may help to manage strong feelings, which we found to be related to the inferior frontal cortex.
Key outputs:
Lukic, S., Kosik, E. L., Roy, A. R., Morris, N., Sible, I. J., Datta, S., ... & Sturm, V. E. (2023). Higher emotional granularity relates to greater inferior frontal cortex cortical thickness in healthy, older adults. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 1-13. PDF
Project #2
How does patients' ability to use cognitive and linguistic knowledge relate to their capacity for emotional regulation?
Neurodegenerative-associated syndromes can be categorized by various combinations of cognitive, language and behavior symptoms (see Geraudie et al., 2021 for a review), which pose a demand on the national health system. This study examines behavioral alterations in patients with behavioral variant Frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and language variants (PPA) patients, and characterizes neuropsychological and language patterns along the FTD spectrum.
Specifically, we administered a comprehensive assessment across FTD syndromes to investigate different cognitive and language components. Principal component analysis was used to evaluate the main components of cognition and language across FTD syndromes, and explore the existence of data-driven clinical clusters.
Key outputs:
Lukic, S., Manoochehri, M., Vysotskiy, M., & Huey, E. The frontal FTD syndromes: intersections between cognition, language and behavior. SNL, 2023.
"Verbal Memory" in the context of neurodegenerative disorders
In the first study in PPA, we provided support for the auditory verbal short-term memory (vSTM) account of repetition deficits, found to be located in left temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) regions, and provided an important tool for diagnosing neurodegenerative diseases and for following their progression.
Interestingly, the same logopenic PPA group which exhibited a hallmark pattern of vSTM deficit, has an increased FRQ of learning disabilities, suggesting a link between av-STM & childhood learning.
Key outputs:
Lukic, S., Mandelli, M. L., Welch, A., Jordan, K., Shwe, W., Neuhaus, J., ... & Gorno-Tempini, M. L. (2019). Neurocognitive basis of repetition deficits in primary progressive aphasia. Brain and language, 194, 35-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2019.04.003 PDF
"Verbal Memory" in the context of neurodevelopmental disorders
The findings from the second study suggest differences in vSTM capacity and TPJ structural changes in neurodevelopmental disorders (i.e., developmental dyslexia), which may leave developmental “footprints” in the adult phonological store and TPJ. Schwab Dyslexia and Cognitive Diversity Center Innovation Grant Award ($98,328; PI: Dr. Sladjana Lukic).
Key outputs:
Lukic, S., Qi, T.*, Pereira, C., Mandelli, M.L., Bogley R., Shabash M., Caverzasi, E., Borghesani, V., Dronkers, N., & Gorno-Tempini, M.L. (Under review, August 2023). Verbal short-term memory in Developmental Dyslexia: the role of the temporo-parietal area. Preprint DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/8hnfq
"Semantic Strengths" in the context of neurodevelopmental disorders
The findings from this study suggest differences in semantic strengths in neurodevelopmental disorders (i.e., developmental dyslexia). The data demonstrate that semantic fluency performance is strongly linked to specific executive function subdomains and a semantic resting-state dynamic brain network and that inter-individual differences should be taken into account in dyslexia.
Key outputs:
Lukic, S., Bunge, S., Gorno-Tempini, M. L. & Watson, C. (Under review, August 2023). Semantic Strength in Developmental Dyslexia: the word clustering and switching in verbal fluency. Preprint DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/g46ne