Elaine Andersen

Summary Statement of Research Interests

Professor Andersen researches the relationship between language and non-linguistic cognition. She investigates this relationship by exploring (1) linguistic and cognitive development in normal and atypical children, as well as (2) linguistic and cognitive impairments in normal and atypical aging. She also studies sociolinguistic development – how children acquire knowledge of register variation across languages.

Many of professor Andersen’s studies focus on lexical semantics, examining: (i) how lexical semantic knowledge is stored and processed in the brain; (ii) how children learn the structure of lexical categories; (iii) the relationship between input and acquisition; (iv) the nature of cross-linguistic universals of lexical structure and acquisition; (v) the role of visual perception in the acquisition of early words; and (vi) the effects of brain damage on lexical processing.