Cynthia K. Thompson
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders, and Neurology
ckthom@northwestern.edu
Frances Searle Building
2240 Campus Drive, Room 3-363
Evanston, IL 60208-2952
847-491-2421
Graduate Programs: Communication Sciences and Disorders
Cynthia K. Thompson’s research focuses on normal and disordered language and how language recovers in persons with brain damage. This work makes use of mutually supportive language representation (linguistic) and processing accounts of normal language to predict breakdown and recovery patterns. These patterns provide blueprints for clinical protocols and, in turn, address the utility of this translational approach for studying language disorders. The processing mechanisms that support recovery also are studied by tracking eye movements in sentence processing and production, and the neural correlates of recovery are examined using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Affiliations
Aphasia and Neurolinguistics Research Laboratory
Aphasia Support Center
Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center
Northwestern University Institute for Neuroscience
The Center for Spoken Language Research (CSLR)
Education
| PhD | Speech and Language Pathology/Linguistics, University of Kansas |
| MS | Speech and Language Pathology, University of Oregon |
| MS | Psychology, University of Oregon |
| BS | Psychology, University of Oregon |
Recent Publications
Bonakdarpour, B., Parrish, T., & Thompson, C.K. (2007). Hemodynamic response changes in patients with stroke-induced aphasia: Implications for fMRI data analysis. NeuroImage, 36, 322-331.
Dickey, M.W., Choy, J., & Thompson, C. K. (2007). Real-time comprehension of wh-movement in aphasia: Evidence from eyetracking while listening. Brain and Language: 100,1-22.
Thompson, C. K. (2007). Complexity in language learning. American Journal of Speech and Language Pathology, 16, 3-5.
Thompson, C. K., & Shapiro, L. P. (2007). Complexity in treatment of syntactic deficits. American Journal of Speech and Language Pathology, 16, 30-42.
Thompson, C.K. (2006). Single subject controlled experiments in aphasia: The science and the state of the science. Journal of Communication Disorders, 39, 266-291.
Recent Awards and Honors
| 2007 | Martin E. and Gertrude G. Walder Award for Research Excellence |
| 2001 | Fellow, Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center |
| 1999 | Fellow, American Speech Language and Hearing Association |
Recent Grants and Funding
| 2005-2010 | Neural Correlates of Aphasia Treatment and Recovery: fMRI Investigations. National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIHCD) RO1 DC007213-01-05. $2,907,121 |
| 2005-2007 | Development and Evaluation of a Virtual Aphasia Clinician. National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIHCD) R21 DC007377-01-02. $250,000 |
| 2002-2007 | Neurolinguistic Investigations of Aphasia and Aphasia Recovery (continuation). The National Institute of Health (NIHCD) RO1 DC01948-10-14. $2,413,587 |
Courses
| CSD 495-1 | Aphasia I: Normal and Disordered Language Representation and Processing |
| CSD 545 | Seminar in Communication Sciences and Disorders |
| CSD 507 | Neural Mechanisms of Language Processing |
| CSD 314 | Topics in Cognitive Neuroscience |
| CSD 550-1 | Research Methods-1 |
| CSD 550-2 | Research Methods-2 |
