Michele Diaz

About

Michele Diaz is a faculty member in the Linguistics Program at Pennsylvania State University. Her research focuses on the neural and cognitive mechanisms that support language, including the role of the right hemisphere in language processing. She is also interested in age-related differences in language. Her work is associated with the Language and Aging Lab, and she is involved in teaching undergraduate courses related to linguistics and language science.

Research topics

• Natural Language Processing
• Computer Science
• Cognitive psychology
• Cognitive science
• Linguistics
• Psychology

Selected publications

• Quantifying flexibility in thought: The resiliency of semantic networks differs across the lifespan

  Cognition · 2021-02-24 · 106 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Older adults tend to have a broader vocabulary compared to younger adults - indicating a richer storage of semantic knowledge - but their retrieval abilities decline with age. Recent advances in quantitative methods based on network science have investigated the effect of aging on semantic memory structure. However, it is yet to be determined how this aging effect on semantic memory structure relates to its overall flexibility. Percolation analysis provides a quantitative measure of the flexibil…

  PublisherDOI

• Age differences in semantic network structure: Acquiring knowledge shapes semantic memory.

  Psychology and Aging · 2023-01-23 · 64 citations

  articleOpen access

  Computational research suggests that semantic memory, operationalized as semantic memory networks, undergoes age-related changes. Previous work suggests that concepts in older adults' semantic memory networks are more separated, more segregated, and less connected to each other. However, cognitive network research often relies on group averages (e.g., young vs. older adults), and it remains unclear if individual differences influence age-related disparities in language production abilities. Here…

  PublisherDOI

• What we mean when we say semantic: Toward a multidisciplinary semantic glossary

  Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · 2024 · 61 citations

  Tulving characterized semantic memory as a vast repository of meaning that underlies language and many other cognitive processes. This perspective on lexical and conceptual knowledge galvanized a new era of research undertaken by numerous fields, each with their own idiosyncratic methods and terminology. For example, "concept" has different meanings in philosophy, linguistics, and psychology. As such, many fundamental constructs used to delineate semantic theories remain underspecified and/or op…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• When phonological neighborhood density both facilitates and impedes: Age of acquisition and name agreement interact with phonological neighborhood during word production

  Memory & Cognition · 2020-05-05 · 29 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• What We Mean When We Say Semantic: A multidiscilpinary semantic glossary

  2023-12-16 · 22 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Tulving (1972) characterized semantic memory as a vast repository of meaning that underlies language and many other cognitive processes. This perspective on lexical and conceptual knowledge galvanized a new era of research undertaken by numerous fields, each with their own idiosyncratic methods and terminology. For example, ‘concept’ has different meanings in philosophy, linguistics, and psychology. As such, many fundamental constructs used to delineate semantic theories remain underspecified an…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R03HD059220

  NIH · $155k · 2011

• Neuroimaging of Age-Related Changes in Language

  NIH · $3.1M · 2017–2024

Frequent coauthors

• David J. Madden

  Duke Medical Center

  42 shared

• Haoyun Zhang

  Shenzhen Technology University

  36 shared

• Gregory McCarthy

  MSD (UK) Limited (United Kingdom)

  29 shared

• Ayşenil Belger

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  29 shared

• Daniel H. Mathalon

  University of California, San Francisco

  28 shared

• Micah A. Johnson

  Regeneron (United States)

  27 shared

• Jessica A. Turner

  The Ohio State University

  26 shared

• Judith M. Ford

  University of Sydney

  25 shared

Education

• MA, PhD, Psychology & Cognitive Neuroscience

  Duke University

  2005

• BA, Psychology

  Pennsylvania State University

  1999

Similar researchers at Pennsylvania State University

• Carol Millerh-36
• Deborah Mortonh-22
• Chaleece Sandbergh-16