Department of Psychology

Phone: 405-744-7335 
Fax: 405-744-8067

E-mail: shelia.kennison@okstate.edu

Memory and Language in Individuals with Complete Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum
New research is exploring the memory and language processing in individuals who are born without a corpus callosum (i.e., complete agenesis of the corpus callosum or ACC).  The corpus callosum is the bundle of fibers that connect the left and right hemispheres in the brain.  ACC is a very rare condition that is sometimes diagnosed when individuals are adults. Increasingly, children are diagnosed early in life or before birth.  Little is known about how ACC affects individuals' cognitive processing.

Time Course of Integrative Semantic Processing

Our research has shown that the time course of integrative semantic processing during reading occurs more rapidly for certain types of noun than for others. Plural nouns and animate singular nouns have been found to be integrated rapidly. Current research is investigating the role of word-specific frequency of usage information in the time course of semantic integration.

Comprehending Cataphoric Pronouns in Chinese and Korean

Our research has shown that there are processing differences for anaphoric and cataphoric usages of English pronouns. On going studies are investigating the processing of overt and zero pronouns in Chinese and Korean, comparing anaphoric and cataphoric pronominal forms.

Age of Acquisition and Bilingual Language Processing

Our research has shown that for monolinguals there is greater right hemisphere involvement in the processing of words learned early in childhood (before the age of 4) than in the processing of words learned later in life (after age 7). Our current research is extending this research to investigate hemispheric differences in processing L1 and L2 words that were learned early in childhood or later in life.

Comprehending Gender-Specific Pronouns

Our research has shown that the gender-specific pronouns he, she, himself, and herself take longer to associate with gender ambiguous antecedents if the gender stereotype of the antecedent is incongruent with the gender of the pronoun. Our current research is investigating the extent to which there are individual differences in resolving gender-specific pronouns.