This simple Tinker Toy schematic of semantic memory organization took me 11 years to develop. Sensorimotor modules (a=vision, b=motor, c=olfaction, etc) feed a low-order hub (probably the angular gyrus). The low order hub binds representations into a coarse format that is then subjected to symbolic transformations by the high order hub. Words (lex in the schematic) access symbolic representations directly. Language and percepts combine within high order hubs because they share the same root symbolic representation.
Florida visit for dissertation defense
Just returned from Gainesville, Florida where my PhD student successfully defended his dissertation. Congratulations, Josh!
Here's August messing around in the swamp near our old house. It was great to see everyone but also quite sad to see the shape of my former department.
More venn diagramming
This thing is actually turning out pretty nicely. I have great respect for graphic designers. Just doing a simple graphic like this took forever and a day.
Joshua Troche has a sinister dissertation look...
Mild mannered, Joshua Troche, looks like he's out for blood here. I've never seen him look so sinister. This is the last month of his dissertation. Hold it together, man!
I can't make out the writing on that whiteboard, but I suspect it rings of Jack Torrence from the Shining.
The Binney Fly
In the midst of creating novel animals for our eyetracking study we discovered Sculptrix, a 3d rendering program. Richard created this awesome little fly today.
Per the Google N-Gram database, I *might* have been wrong in that Sherlock Holmes article
Franz Liszt... La Campenella
La Campenella in G-Sharp minor is almost too improbable to exist. It's so powerful. It floors me every time.
Random thoughts: a retrospective analysis
I just read this whole section of the website. Wow. I really present as having a thought disorder. To the best of my knowledge, though, this is not the case.
Music selection
Okay, everyone makes fun of me when I post my ongoing music selections. However, I have to give a shoutout to Erik Satie's Gnossiene #3 right now. Listen to it on Spotify. It'll haunt the crap out of you.
Snodgrass Kangaroo
Look at this little darling. I colorized the Snodgrass kangaroo today.
Flock of seagulls 1988
There are no words....
UDHS yearbook photo.
Dusting off the old high school yearbook
Staying at my parents' house this weekend. I busted out the old HS yearbook. Upper Darby High School 1988 -- Look who I graduated with!
Tina Fey has enjoyed a small modicum of success since leaving Upper Darby.
Chris Westbury might have killed me if I hadn't corrected this
Canada's essentially the same thing as the United States, right?
Salutation options from Guilford Press
I'm working on ordering copies of David Kemmerer's text for my Language and Brain class next semester. Guilford Press has some seriously fancy salutation options.
Oh the horror
First day of first grade
Wow.... what an emotional experience this was.
Today was August's first day of first grade. His school had a ceremony where all the 8th graders gave each of the incoming 1st graders a rose.
To be honest I was dreading it because I'm such a dark cynic. When the moment came though, I was blubbering like a baby when he got his rose.
Spectacular combination of curse words
I went out for Korean BBQ with two friends last night. One of these guys unleashed the most spectacular combination of curse words I have ever heard. It's only four words long, and only two of the words are actual profanities. Nevertheless, the combination was masterful. Bravo, Yune.
Semantic access from multiple modalities
Here's the result of our fmri conjunction analysis between naming an object from an environmental sound (e.g., barking) vs naming an object from a picture.
We did the analyses in SPM and the surface rendering in SUMA/AFNI. I love this result. Writing it up now....
Liberated from EndNote
I think I might have successfully liberated myself from EndNote. I deleted a reference today and it staggered 75 other references into the wrong place. I've finally had enough. Everything was ported over to Mendeley successfully. Fingers crosssed!
Goodbye K23 DC010197
I finished my K23 career development award on July 31 (Structure of Semantic Memory and its impairment in Aphasia and Dementia). This was my first grant from the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. I learned so many great things and am so proud of the work I did under this award. It protected my research time, provided resources, and really allowed me to develop as an investigator. Everyone at NIDCD was so supportive and kind. I would recommend this grant mechanism to any junior scientist.