Faculty success and equity workshop registration now open
Registration is now open for the “Initiative for Faculty Success and Equity Workshop (IFSE)” to be held from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 19, at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center.
The workshop — sponsored by the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI), the Office of the…
President Bendapudi visits SSRI
Recently, Penn State President Dr. Neeli Bendapudi visited SSRI to learn about our institute and the important research being conducted in the social sciences at Penn State. After a welcome from SSRI Director Deborah Ehrenthal, President Bendapudi heard highlights from SSRI core research resources…
SSRI names new unit directors
Penn State’s Social Science Research Institute recently announced new directors for two of their units, the Social, Life, and Engineering Sciences Imaging Center (SLEIC) and the Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction (CSUA), effective July 1.
Xiaoxiao Bai and Emma Jane Rose will succeed Michele…
Penn State receives a five-year, nearly $6 million grant to study factors promoting early childhood development
The effects of genetics, home environment, and prenatal substance use on child health and brain development are largely unknown, even though pregnancy and early childhood are incredibly important periods of growth. To address this knowledge gap, Penn State…
A recent paper on the effect of phonological neighborhood density on age-related difference in language production
Check out this recent paper by Dr. Michele Diaz and her lab on the effect of phonological characteristics on the age-related difference in language production! Aging is often associated with declines in language production. For example, compared to younger adults, older adults experience more…
Congratulations to SLEIC Dissertation Award Winner Dominick DiMercurio II!
Dominick DiMercurio II, a graduate student in Communication Sciences and Disorders under Dr. Chaleece Sandberg, received a Dissertation Award for his project, "Testing conflicting theories of semantics by constructing neuroinformatic networks of keywords using fMRI data".
Congratulations Dominick!
A recent paper on white matter and age-related phonological deficits
Check out this recent paper published by SLEIC researchers Sara Troutman and Dr. Michele Diaz. This paper looks at the relationship between white matter in the brain and age-related phonological deficits. Using a Picture-Word Interference (PWI) task with 18 younger and 19 older healthy…
SLEIC Brain Awareness Week
This year SLEIC successfully celebrated the Dana Foundation's Brain Awareness Week with AXONs! We hosted an event at Schlow Center Region Library and participated in the Exploration-U Science Night at Mount Nittany Middle School. During both events, we displayed various animal brains…
Research on functional connectivity within face processing network by SLEIC researcher Daniel Elbich and Dr. Suzanne Sherf
Daniel Elbich, Dr. Suzanne Scherf, and their collaborators have recently published work on functional connectivity within face processing network. In this paper, young adults were scanned with fMRI as they viewed movies of faces, objects, and scenes. During face processing…
Review on Graph theory approaches to functional network organization in brain disorders by SLEIC researchers Dr. Michael Hallquist & Dr. Frank Hillary
Dr. Michael Hallquist and Dr. Grank Hillary recently published a review paper about Graph theory approaches to functional network organization in brain disorders. In this paper, they conducted a review of clinical network neuroscience, summarizing methodological details from 106…
Research on diminished neural network dynamics in mild cognitive impairment and brain disorders by Dr. Frank Hillary's Lab
Einat Brenner, a graduate student in clinical psychology, Dr. Frank Hillary, and their collaborators have recently published work on diminished neural network dynamics in amnestic mild cognitive impairment. In this paper, they use dynamic connectivity modeling and graph theory…
Research on neural signatures of inhibitory control in bilingual spoken production by SLEIC researchers Dr. Eleonora Rossi, Dr. Michele Diaz & colleagues
SLEIC researchers, Dr. Eleonora Rossi (who is now an Assistant Professor at California State Polytechnic University), Dr. Michele Diaz and other colleagues recently published a study on neural signatures of inhibitory control in bilingual spoken production. The goal of this event-related functional…
Research on neural basis of the interaction between language production and cognitive control by SLEIC researchers Haoyun Zhang, Anna Eppes & Dr. Michele Diaz
SLEIC researchers Haoyun Zhang, Anna Eppes, and Dr. Michele Diaz have recently published a paper on Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience. This paper investigates the extent to which language production and cognitive control interact and their neural bases, and how task difficulty…
College of the Liberal Arts elevates four faculty to named professorships
Four faculty members in the College of the Liberal Arts have been awarded named professorships in the college, effective July 1, 2018. They include:
Amy Greenberg, George Winfree Professor of History and Women’s Studies. Greenberg is a noted historian of antebellum America, with a…
Research on the influence of perceptual similarity and individual differences on false memories in aging by Dr. Nancy Dennis’s lab
Dr. Nancy Dennis, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology, and her student Indira Turney have published a paper on Neurobiology of Aging, investigating how both controlled, systematic differences in perceptual relatedness between targets and lures and individual differences in true…
Research on neural basis of memory errors in older adults by SLEIC researcher Christina Webb & Dr. Nancy Dennis
Christina Webb, a graduate student in cognitive psychology, and Dr. Nancy Dennis have recently published a paper investigating the role of schemas on true and false memories in older adults. They found that true memories were supported by the typical retrieval network, and activity in this network…