PEBT
Lab Team
Directors:
Yael Arbel, PhD, CCC-SLP
Co-Director
Telephone: (617) 974-7363
Email: yarbel@mghihp.edu
Dr. Arbel investigates the impaired learning mechanism in children with Developmental Language Disorder, with an emphasis on these children’s ability to learn from corrective feedback. Learn more about Dr. Arbel .
Sofia Vallila Rohter, PhD, CCC-SLP
Co-Director
Telephone: (617) 724-3824
Email: svallilarohter@mghihp.edu
Dr. Vallila Rohter examines how nonlinguistic cognitive systems contribute to success with therapy in aphasia, and investigates factors that contribute to long-term outcomes and outcome predictability in aphasia. Learn more about Dr. Vallila Rohter.
Lauryn Zipse, PhD, CCC-SLP
Co-Director
Telephone: (617) 643 3245
Email: lzipse@mghihp.edu
Dr. Zipse investigates language and other aspects of cognition in adults with brain injury, with a particular focus on the timing of cognitive processes. Learn more about Dr. Zipse.
Research Study Coordinators
Calais Larson, BS
Email: cmlarson@mghihp.edu
Isabel Fitzpatrick
Email: ifitzpatrick@mghihp.edu
Postdoctoral Research Fellows:
Lauren Baron, PhD Rehabilitation Sciences, MS Speech Language Pathology
Lauren Baron is a postdoctoral research fellow. Prior to joining the Cognitive Neuroscience Group, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of South Carolina. She earned a PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences and MS in Speech-Language Pathology from the MGH Institute of Health Professions. She has a BS in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research examines the connections between language, literacy, and executive function for children with developmental language disorder and dyslexia.
Asiya Gul, PhD Cognitive Psychology, MSc Physics
Asiya Gul is a postdoctoral research fellow. Asiya received her MSc in Physics from Arizona State University and PhD in Cognitive Psychology from Wifrid Laurier University, Canada. She specialized in Memory and cognition. She works now on the mechanisms of learning and learning disorders in children.
Doctoral Students:
Jeanne Gallée, BA in Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences
Jeanne Gallée is pursuing her doctorate at Harvard University in the Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology program (SHBT) while enrolled as a non-degree student in the IHP's Communication Sciences and Disorders program, while completing her coursework for clinical certification in speech-language pathology at the IHP. Her clinical research interests are in the areas of aphasia with a focus on the cognitive factors that may impact treatment outcomes for the affected populations. Her previous research experience includes an independent neuroimaging study of how repeated exposure to particular syntactic structures may lead to changes in neural activity.
Jasmine Urquhart Gillis, MS, CCC-SLP
Jasmine Urquhart Gillis is a doctoral student in the PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences program at the MGH Institute. Her research interests are in examining the role modality, strategy use, and other cognitive factors play in the implicit learning abilities of preschool and school-aged children diagnosed with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD).
Kristen Nunn, MS, CCC-SLP
Kristen is a doctoral student in the PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences program at the MGH Institute. She is interested in understanding the cognitive, linguistic, and neurological factors that contribute to language impairment in aphasia and treatment outcomes.
Victoria Tilton-Bolowsky, MS, CCC-SLP
Victoria Tilton-Bolowsky is a doctoral student in the PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences program at the MGH Institute. She is interested in understanding how attention, memory, feedback, and awareness affect language recovery in the acute and chronic aphasia populations.
Graduate Students:
Sarah Birdsall, BA
Sarah Birdsall is a second-year graduate student in Communication Sciences and Disorders. She is a research assistant, collecting and analyzing data for a project aimed at better understanding entrainment ability in adults with aphasia and the impact of conversational versus metrical speech rhythms.
Jocelyn Chokkattu
Jocelyn is a graduate student in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Her clinical and research interests are in developmental and acquired language disorders as they relate to multilingualism and Global Health.
Maria Andrea Cruz, BA Art History
Maria Andrea Cruz is a graduate student in Communication Sciences and Disorders. She is a research assistant, collecting and analyzing Electroencephalography (EEG) and behavioral data to study the effect of implicit and explicit learning in children with Developmental Language Disorders. Her clinical and research interests are in the area of Aphasia; she is working on her thesis project with a goal of understanding error patterns in people with acute aphasia. She hopes to expand this research with polylingual populations. Maria’s previous research experience includes a national study through the Jules Stein Eye Institute on the effects of macular degeneration.
Emily Feeley
Research Assistant
Emily Feeley is a graduate student in Communication Sciences and Disorders. She is interested in the cognitive and language processing aspects of first and second language acquisition.
Stephanie Gaglini
Stephanie Gaglini is a graduate student in Communication Sciences and Disorders. She is working on her thesis project surrounding the efficacy of a using a telepractice service delivery model to provide speech and language intervention with a goal of elucidating the benefits and challenges of telepractice and determining a need for graduate training in the service delivery method.
Maria Galassi, BS
Research Assistant
Maria Galassi is a graduate student in Communication Sciences and Disorders. She is interested in Melodic Intonation Therapy, a music-based intervention for individuals with Aphasia. Her previous research experience includes the study of turtle ecology and population dynamics.
Jessica Hopkins
Research Assistant
Jessica is a graduate student in Communication Sciences and Disorders. She is interested in the cognitive factors that affect the severity of speech and language impairments in adults with stroke and traumatic brain injury and how to improve outcomes for these patients.
Carly Levine
Carly Levine is a graduate student in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Her clinical and research interests include Aphasia and other acquired communication disorders in adult populations. Her previous research experience involved children and adolescents with autism.
Emmaleigh Loyer
Research Assistant
Emmaleigh Loyer is a graduate student in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Prior to starting school at the IHP, she spent three years working in clinical research at Northwestern University’s Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center. When at Northwestern, she contributed to research projects that employed neuroimaging and neuropsychological methods to study individuals with Primary Progressive Aphasia. Emmaleigh’s research interests lie in the areas of memory and aphasia.
Zhaoyu Lu
Zhaoyu Lu is a graduate student in Communication Sciences and Disorders. His previous research experience includes bilingual code-switching, semantic and pragmatic interface and audiology. His current clinical and research interests are in the area of children with ASD. He is working on his thesis project regarding self-monitoring and feedback processing.
Gwendolyn Meredith, BS in Cognitive Science
Research Assistant
Gwendolyn Meredith is a graduate student in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Her previous research experience includes archival library research for the Colored Convention Project and research into visuospatial working memory for the Spatial Cognition Lab at University of Delaware. She is interested in exploring the impact of aphasia and TBI on visuospatial working memory and semantic processing.
Jen Quiros
Jen Quiros is a graduate student in Communication Sciences and Disorders. She is interested in the effects of working memory capacity and executive function on strategic, errorful learning in individuals with Traumatic Brain Injuries.
Allison Reid
Allison is a graduate student in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Her previous research experience includes examining music cognition abilities in older adults, and she has also conducted studies that examine the impaired and preserved processes in patients with medial temporal lobe amnesia. She is currently interested in the role of rhythmic processing in melodic intonation therapy for aphasia.
Emily Reuling
Emily Reuling is a Communication Sciences and Disorders graduate student and research assistant. Her clinical and research interests are in the area of child language development and disorders.
Marissa Russell
Marissa is a graduate student in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Her previous research experience involves studying the role of attention in the perceptual learning of accented speech. Her research interests involve bilingual aphasia and exploring the most effective approaches to language intervention for bilingual individuals. She is currently a research assistant collecting EEG and behavioral data to study typical and impaired feedback processing in learning.
Madeline Smith
Madeline is a graduate student in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Her previous research experience involves observing the concomitant relationship between facial muscle activity and middle ear muscle contractions using EMG and DPOAE measures. She is a research assistant, collecting and analyzing EEG and behavioral data to study working memory and executive functions in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Nathaniel Somes
Nate is a graduate student studying Communication Sciences and Disorders. His previous research includes using MRI techniques to study mild TBI and first episode schizophrenia.
Alumni:
James Borders, MS-SLP '16
Master’s thesis title: A Developmental Examination of Feedback Processing During Declarative Learning (chair of committee: Arbel). Thesis was supported by the Christopher Norman Educational Fund.
Brendan Czupryna, MS-SLP '18
Master's thesis title: Investigating Attentional Allocation with Eye Tracking During Category Learning in People with Aphasia (chair of committee: Vallila Rohter).
Sarah Curtis, MS-SLP '17
Master's thesis title: Tap Your Hand if You Feel the Beat: Differential Effects of Tapping in Melodic Intonation Therapy (chair of committee: Zipse).
Diana Dinh, MS-SLP '17
Master's thesis title: Implicit and rule-based learning in individuals with aphasia (chair of committee: Vallila Rohter). Thesis was supported by the Christopher Norman Educational Fund.
Lucia Hong, MS '16
Master’s thesis title: Comparing Immediate versus Delayed Feedback Processing in Healthy Adults (chair of committee: Arbel). Thesis was supported by the Christopher Norman Educational Fund.
Jessica Kenworthy, MS-SLP '18
Master's thesis title: Learning Differences in Traumatic Brain Injury: An Electrophysiological Study (chair of committee: Zipse)
Ayelet Kershenbaum, MS '16
Master’s thesis title: Spoken or intoned, Together or Alone: Is Unison Production Advantageous for People with Aphasia? (chair of committee: Zipse). Thesis was supported by the Christopher Norman Educational Fund.
Shalom (Shaz) Kim, MS-SLP '18
Master's thesis title: An Electrophysiological Examination of Feedback-Based Learning With Immediate and Delayed Auditory Feedback (chair of committee: Arbel)
Annette Mitko, MS-SLP '17
Master's thesis title: Feedback processing in rule- based and probabilistic category learning in children with Specific Language Impairment (chair of committee: Arbel). Thesis was supported by the Christopher Norman Educational Fund.
Amanda Sitren, MS-SLP '18
Master's thesis title: How Well Do We Use Our Technology?: Examining Ipad Navigation Skills in Individuals With Aphasia and Older Adults (chair of committee: Vallila Rohter).
Undergraduate Summer Interns:
Summer 2018
- Amiena Mohammed, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, pursuing a B.S in Public Health
- Angelica Castillo, Boston University, pursuing a BA in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
- Lily Hitelman, New York University, Music Cognition, Computer Science and German
- Jared Sullivan, Harvard College, Biomedical Engineering
- Ashwin Panda, Master’s student in Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie melon, B.S. in Computational Neuroscience, Carnegie melon.
- Anamika Dutta, College of the Holy Cross, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Statistics
- Alexa Puleio, Union College, majoring in Cognitive Neuroscience
Summer 2017
- Dani Marrissa Grant, Bunker Hill Community College
- Sijju Karki, UMass Boston
- Ivy M. Mwangi, Williams College
Summer 2016
- Anderson Gomez Murcia, Boston University
- Hilary Kee, Pine Manor College
- Chisom Gloria Nwaoha, Suffolk University
Learn about research opportunities for Undergraduate Students.
