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- Detailed Information
Natalie A. Kacinik
Associate Professor
Psychology
Location: 5309c James Hall
Phone: 718.951.5000 x6019
Fax: 718.951.4814
Email:
I am originally from Toronto but did my Ph.D. at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) and was a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at UC Davis before coming to Brooklyn College. My research investigates how the mind and brain process language, ranging from simple individual words like "table" or "dog" to complex figurative expressions like "a bird in the hand is better than two in a bush." I am particularly interested in how conceptual representations are influenced by perceptual, motor, and cultural experiences (i.e., embodied cognition), as well as more social aspects of communication like discourse, theory of mind and pragmatics. I usually teach Introductory Psychology and the Psychology of Language.
Education:
Ph.D., University of California - Riverside - 2003 (Psychology, Cognitive)
M.A., University of Western Ontario - 1998 (Psychology, Experimental)
B.A. (honors), University of Western Ontario - 1995 (Psychology)
Areas of Expertise:
Psycholinguistics and cognitive neuroscience. One main line of research examines how we represent and process conceptual knowledge. The other deals with the comprehension of higher-levels of language (figurative expressions, discourse and pragmatics). These issues are investigated with behavioral and cognitive neuroscientific techniques like visual half-field presentation, event-related potentials (ERPs), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), structural MRI and brain-injured individuals.
Books and Publications
Baldo, J. V., Kacinik, N., Ludy, C., Paulraj, S., Moncrief, A., Piai, V., Curran, B., Turken, A., Herron, T. & Dronkers, N. F. (in press). Voxel-based lesion analysis of brain regions underlying reading and writing. Neuropsychologia. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.03.021
(Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2018
Ferrari-Bridgers, F., & Kacinik, N. A. (2017, equal authorship). How linearity and structural complexity interact to affect the recognition of Italian derived words. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 46, 175-200. Doi:10.1007/s10936-016-9427-1.
(Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2017
Mielicki, M, K., Kacinik, N. A., & Wiley, J. (2017). Bilingualism and symbolic abstraction: Implications for algebra learning. Learning and Instruction, 49, 242-250.
(Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2017
Baldo, J. V., Kacinik, N. A., Beghin, F., Moncrief, A., & Dronkers, N. F. (2016). You may now kiss the bride: Interpretation of social situations by individuals with right or left hemisphere injury. Neuropsychologia, 80, 133-141. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2016
Ferrari-Bridgers, F. and N.A. Kacinik. "Linearity and Word Internal Structure in the Visual Processing of Italian Complex Words." Penn Working Papers in Linguistics 20.1: 91-100. http://repository.upenn.edu/pwpl/vol20/iss1/11. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2014
Kacinik, N. A. (2014). "Sticking Your Neck Out and Burying the Hatchet: What Idioms Reveal About Embodied Simulation. Special issue of Frontiers in Human Neuroscience: What Can We Make of Theories of Embodiment and the Role of the Human Mirror Neuron System? 8, Article 689: 1-14. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00689. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2014
Eskine, K.J., N.A. Kacinik and G.D. Webster. "The Bitter Truth About Morality: Virtue, Not Vice Makes a Beverage Taste Nice." PLoS ONE 7(7): e41159. doi:10.1371/journal.pone. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2012
Eskine, K.J., N.A. Kacinik and J.J. Prinz. "Stirring Images: Fear, Not Happiness or Arousal, Makes Art More Sublime." Emotion 12: 1071-74. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2012
Eskine, K.J., N.A. Kacinik and J.J. Prinz. "A Bad Taste in the Mouth: Gustatory Disgust Influences Moral Judgments." Psychological Science 22: 295-99. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2011
Kacinik, N.A. and C. Chiarello. "Understanding Metaphors: Is the Right Hemisphere Uniquely Involved?" Brain and Language 100: 188-207. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2007
Chiarello, C., L.J. Lombardino, N.A. Kacinik, R. Otto and C.M. Leonard. "Neuroanatomical and Behavioral Asymmetry in an Adult Compensated Dyslexic." Brain and Language 98: 169-81. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2006
Chiarello, C., N.A. Kacinik, C. Shears, S. Arambel, L. Halderman and C. Robinson. "Exploring Cerebral Asymmetries for the Verb Generation Task." Neuropsychology 20: 88-104. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2006
Chiarello, C., C. Shears, S. Liu and N.A. Kacinik. "Influence of Word Class Proportion on Cerebral Asymmetries for High and Low Imagery Words." Brain and Cognition 57: 35-38. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2005
Chiarello, C., N. Kacinik, B. Manowitz, R. Otto and C. Leonard. "Cerebral Asymmetries for Language: Evidence for Structural-Behavioral Correlations." Neuropsychology 18: 219-31. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2004
Mayda, A., J. Larsen, A. Lincoln, N. Kacinik, D. Swick and K. Baynes. "Concreteness Effects in Global Alexia: A Right Hemisphere Contribution?" Brain and Language 91: 88-89. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2004
Chiarello, C., S. Liu, C. Shears, N. Quan and N. Kacinik. "Priming of Strong Semantic Relations in the Left and Right Visual Fields: A Time-course Investigation." Neuropsychologia 41: 721-32. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2003
Kacinik, N.A. and C. Chiarello. "An Investigation of Hemisphere Differences for Moderately Imageable Words Across High and Low Image Contexts." Brain and Cognition 53: 239-42. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2003
Chiarello, C., S. Liu, C. Shears and N. Kacinik. "Differential Asymmetries for Recognizing Nouns and Verbs: Where Are They?" Neuropsychology 16: 35-48. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2002
Kacinik, N. and C. Chiarello. "Predicting Noun and Verb Latencies: Influential Variables and Task Effects." Proceedings of the 24th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Eds. W.D.Gray and C.D. Schunn. Mahwah, N.J.: Erlbaum. 524-29. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2002
Chiarello, C., L. Maxfield, S. Liu and N. Kacinik. "Categorical Processing in the Left and Right Hemispheres: The Effect of Category Repetition." Brain and Cognition 46: 66-69. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2001
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
Awarded Provost Reassigned Time for one course release to work on scholarly activities. (Awards and Honors) 2014
PSC-CUNY Enhanced Research Award, for "Can Non-invasive Stimulation of Right Posterior Temporal Cortex Improve the Comprehension of Metaphoric Language?" $12,000. (Grants and Fellowships) 2014
PSC-CUNY 44 Traditional A Research Award, for "Improving Our Understanding of Dyslexia: An Interview Study of the Experiences of a Diverse Sample of Dyslexics." $3,500. (Grants and Fellowships) 2013
PSC-CUNY 43 Traditional A Research Award, for "Cerebral Asymmetries in Metaphor Comprehension: A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Study." $3,500. (Grants and Fellowships) 2012
New Faculty Fund Award. (Grants and Fellowships) 2011
Tow Faculty Travel Fellowship. (Grants and Fellowships) 2011
William Stewart Travel Award, CUNY Academy for the Humanities and Sciences, to present at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference. San Francisco, April 2-5. (Awards and Honors) 2011
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
Kacinik, N. A. (2018, Feb). Examining the invariance of word processing: Do manipulations of size affect size judgments. Talk presented at the 43rd Annual Interdisciplinary Conference, Jackson Hole, WY, USA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2018
Investigating the Cognitive and Neural Bases for Comprehending Figurative Language (Nov, 2017). Invited talk presented at the "VTIS New York: Slovene Knowledge Around the World" event, hosted by the Association of Slovenes Educated Abroad at NYU. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2017
Kacinik, N. A. (2017, Feb). Small elephants and big needles: Perceptual information does not generally affect the processing of words. Talk presented at the 42nd Annual Interdisciplinary Conference, Jackson, WY, USA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2017
Kacinik, N. A. (2017, Jul). The neural basis of metaphor comprehension: Examining the contributions of the left and right cerebral hemispheres. Invited talk to be presented in Pragmatics across the Lifespan Symposium at the 14th International Congress for the Study of Child Language, Lyon, France.
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2017
Kacinik, N. A. (2017, Sep). Large ants and small mansions: To what extent do perceptual manipulations affect word processing? Talk presented at the 10th Annual Embodied and Situated Language Processing Conference, Moscow, Russia. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2017
Kacinik, N. A., & Norberg, K. (2017, Mar). Cerebral asymmetries in metaphor comprehension. Poster presented at the 24th annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, CA, USA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2017
Kacinik, N. A., Norberg, K., Choudhary, M., & Scotto, M. (2017, Nov). Examining the invariance of word processing: Do manipulations of size affect size judgments. Poster presented at the 58th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Vancouver, BC, CANADA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2017
Kacinik, N. A., Chen, J., Chen, Y., & Wu, N. (2016, July). Metaphorical color representations of emotional concepts in English, Chinese, & Chinese-English speakers: Evidence from behavioral data. Paper presented at the 11th annual Researching and Applying Metaphor conference, Freie Universitat, Berlin, Germany. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2016
Kacinik, N. A., Norberg, K., Klein, E., Feintuch, M., Goldberg, A., & Samouha, L. (2016, Mar). Small elephants and big needles: Perceptual information does not affect word processing. Poster presented at the 87th annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, New York, NY, USA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2016
Chen, J., Kacinik, N. A., Chen, Y., & Wu, N. (2015, Feb). Seeing red with happiness or anger? Metaphorical color representations of emotional concepts in English and Chinese speakers. Talk presented at the 5th annual SPSP Embodiment Pre-Conference, Long Beach, CA, USA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2015
Chen, J., Kacinik, N. A., Chen, Y., & Wu, N. (2015, May). Metaphorical color representations of emotional concepts in English and Chinese speakers. Poster presented at the 27th annual convention of the Association for Psychological Science, New York, NY, USA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2015
Chen, J., Kacinik, N. A., Chen, Y., & Wu, N. (2015, Nov). Metaphorical color representations of emotional concepts in English and Chinese speakers. Poster presented at the 56th annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Chicago, IL, USA. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2015
"Understanding Metaphoric Language: Examining the Involvement of the Left and Right Cerebral Hemispheres." Haskins Laboratories, Yale University. New Haven, Conn. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014
Kacinik, N.A., R.W. El-Haddad and T. Ro. "Preferential Involvement of the Right Hemisphere in Metaphor Comprehension: Evidence From TMS" poster. 21st Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society. Boston, April. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2014
El-Haddad, R.W., S.P. Hadjisolomou and N.A. Kacinik. "When Adult Dyslexics Perform Better: Evidence From Comprehension and Vocabulary Tasks" poster. International Workshop on Reading and Developmental Dyslexia (IWORDD). San Sebastian, Spain, May. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2013
Ferrari-Bridgers, F. and N.A. Kacinik. "Linearity and Word Internal Structure in the Visual Processing of Italian Complex Words" poster. 11th International Symposium of Psycholinguistics. Canary Islands (Spain). (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2013
Ferrari-Bridgers, F. and N.A. Kacinik. "Linearity and Word Internal Structure in the Visual Processing of Italian Complex Words." 37th Penn Linguistics Colloquium. Philadelphia. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2013
Kacinik, N.A., R.W. El-Haddad, K.J. Eskine, L. Starr-Glass and S. Salamon. "Large Ants and Small Mansions: Perceptual Information Does Not Generally Affect the Representation of Words" poster. 54th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society. Toronto, November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2013
Kacinik, N.A., R.W. El-Haddad, K.J. Eskine, L. Starr-Glass and S. Salamon. "Small Elephants and Big Needles: Can Perceptual Information Affect Memory and Judgments About the Meaning of Words?" poster. 35th annual Cognitive Science Conference. Berlin, August. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2013
Kacinik, N.A., R.W. El-Haddad, K.J. Eskine, L. Starr-Glass and S. Salamon. "Small Elephants and Big Needles: Can Perceptual Information Affect Memory and Judgments About the Meaning of Words?" poster. 6th annual Embodied and Situated Language Processing Conference. Potsdam, Germany, July. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2013
Mielicki, M. and N.A. Kacinik. "Executive Control and Mathematical Problem Solving: Is There a Bilingual Advantage?" poster. International Workshop on Bilingualism and Cognitive Control. Krakow, Poland. May. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2013
"Brain Function and Behavior." Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College (CUNY). New York. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
"Investigating the Neural Basis for Processing the Literal and Metaphoric Meanings of Words." 9th Annual Researching and Applying Metaphor Conference. Lancaster University. United Kingdom, July. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2012
"Taste, Fear, Action! -- The Influence of Bodily Experiences on Moral, Aesthetic, and Linguistic Judgments." Brooklyn College SCORE Science Retreat. May. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
Eskine, K.J. and N.A. Kacinik. "The Bitter Truth About Morality: Exploring the Effects of Mindfulness and Moral Event Types on Gustatory Perception" poster. 13th Annual Meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. San Diego, January. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2012
Eskine, K.J., N.A. Kacinik and J.J. Prinz. "Exploring Moral Tastes: The Bitter Truth About Morality." Dirty, Clean, Balanced, and Bitter: Embodiment Perspectives on Morality Symposium. 24th Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science. Chicago, May. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2012
Kacinik, N.A., K.J. Eskine, L. Starr-Glass and I. Rodriguez. "Small Elephants and Big Needles: Can Perceptual Information Affect Memory and Judgments About the Meaning of Words?" poster. 53rd Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society. Minneapolis. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2012
"Investigating the Processing of Literal and Figurative Language." City College (CUNY). New York, March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
Eskine, K.J., N.A. Kacinik and T. McAusland. "Feeling Moved by Art? Fear, Not Physiological Arousal, Increases Sublime Feelings About Abstract Art" poster. Consciousness: From Neural Systems to Phenomenological Experience Special Session. 23rd annual convention of the Association for Psychological Science. Washington, D.C., May. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
Kacinik, N.A., R. El-Haddad and B.A. Cooley. "Cerebral Asymmetries in the Generation of Literal Versus Figurative Meanings" poster. 18th annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society. San Francisco, April. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
Kacinik, N.A., R. El-Haddad and I. Rodriguez. "Are There Cerebral Asymmetries in Generating Literal Versus Figurative Meaning" poster. 52nd Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society. Seattle, November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
"Investigating the Processing of Literal and Figurative Language." Annual Psychology Department Conference. University of California, Riverside. September. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010
"Investigating the Processing of Literal and Figurative Language." College of Staten Island (CUNY). May. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010
Eskine, K.J. and N.A. Kacinik. "Idiomatic Representation: Can Live Bodies Wake Up Dead Metaphors?" poster. 10th biennial joint Conceptual Structure, Discourse, and Language (CSDL) and Embodied and Situated Language Processing (ESLP) meeting. University of California, San Diego. September. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
"The Neural Basis for Establishing Coreference: What's More Important? The Type of Linguistic Structure or How It's Processed?" Science Retreat. Brooklyn College. June. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2009
Gordon, P.C., N.A. Kacinik and T.Y. Swaab. "Neural Mechanisms of Coreferential Processing in Language Comprehension." 16th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society. San Francisco, March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009
Swaab, T.Y., N.A. Kacinik and P.C. Gordon. "Cost of Co-referential Processing With Repeated Names: An ERP Study" poster. 15th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society. San Francisco, April. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2008
Kacinik, N.A., P.C. Gordon and T.Y. Swaab. "From N400 to P600: The Effect of Task Demands on Co-referential Processing and the Repeated Name Penalty." 37th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. San Diego, November. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2007
Professional Leadership
Member of CLD and ABCP merger committee, Graduate Center, CUNY (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2017
Member of Executive Committee for Cognition, Language, & Development (CLD) Doctoral Training Area, Graduate Center, CUNY (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2017
Member of the Appointments Committee (elected for 1 year sabbatical replacement, 07/01/17-07/01/18), Psychology Department, Brooklyn College, CUNY (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2017
Member of Executive Committee for Cognition, Language, & Development Doctoral Training Area, Graduate Center, CUNY (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2015
Brooklyn College representative, Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Training Area Doctoral Admissions Committee, CUNY Graduate Center. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2014
Member, Experimental Psychology Master's Program Committee. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2014
Member, Organizing Committee, Psychology Department In-House Convention. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2014
Co-chair, Psychology Department Honors and Awards Committee. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2012
Head, Adhoc Working Group About Graduating With Honors and Honors Coursework in Psychology. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2012
Acting head of the Psychology Department Honors and Awards Committee for the 2011-12 academic year. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2011
Member, Psychology Department Appointments Committee (elected for one-year sabbatical replacement). (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2011
PSC-CUNY Psychology Department Representative. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2010
Member, Brooklyn College Undergraduate Neuroscience Group. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2009
Member, Linguistics Steering Committee. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2009
Community Activities
Judge, Nassau County Science Competition, Roosevelt High School, Long Island, NY 2015
Judge, Research Association Invitational Science Fair, hosted by Syosset High School. Long Island, N.Y. 2011
Judge, Rohm & Haas Electronic Materials Invitational Science Fair, hosted by the Wheatly School on Long Island. 2009
Other Professional Activities
Invited representative from the Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College Peer Mentoring Program Conversation Series. 2014
Member, Society for the Neurobiology of Language. 2013
Associate member, Psychonomic Society. 2011
Member, Cognitive Science Society; Association for Psychological Science; Cognitive Neuroscience Society; and Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour, & Cognitive Science. 2011
Member, Language and Linguistics Compass Journal's "user crew." 2009
Ad hoc reviewer for Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience; Brain Research; Neuropsychologia; Language and Linguistics Compass; Frontiers in Psychology; Frontiers in Language Sciences; Experimental Brain Research; Cognitive Science Society Proceedings; "The Psychology of Language: An Integrated Approach" book prospectus for SAGE Publications, Inc. National Science Foundation, Linguistics Program, Doctoral Dissertation Award; PSC-CUNY Research Award Program; and CUNY Graduate Center Psychology Doctoral Student Research Grant Program. 2008