Department of Psychology
Northeastern University
Boston, MA 02115
(301) 946-0565
aurora.mendelsohn@verizon.net

Research Interests
 

My research examines the role of both inhibition of irrelevant information and working memory capacity affect sentence processing. I developed a new verbally-based inhibition task to predict and assess individual differences in language processing. I plan to use these tests to determine the role inhibition plays the language development of children and in elderly adults with cognitive impairments. I am also evaluating reading experience as a source of individual differences in language processing. 

With Neal Pearlmutter, I am investigating evidence that the adult language processor can maintain multiple interpretations structures in parallel. 

With Vered Argaman, I am looking at the comma as an overlooked  source of information that aids in the development of the on-line interpretation of sentences.

I am also exploring the nature of individual differences in relative clause attachment preferences.

Education

B.Sc. 
  University of Toronto, 1995 

M.A. 
  State University of New York at Buffalo, 1996 

PhD. 
  Northeastern University, 2002

   Thesis:Individual differences in language processing: Working memory 
     and inhibition. [PDF] [abstract only]

Publications

Please note that the downloadable papers included here are PREPRINT (or submitted) versions and should not be cited or quoted without permission.

Articles

Segal, E., Miller, G., Hosenfeld, C., Mendelsohn, A., Russell, W., Julian, J., Greene, A. and Delphonse, J. (1997). Person and tense in narrative interpretation. Discourse Processes, 24, 271-307. 

Pearlmutter, N. J. & Mendelsohn, A. A.  (2000).  Serial versus parallel sentence comprehension. Manuscript in revision. [PDF][PS]

Conference Presenations

Mendelsohn, A. (2003) The role of inhibition in sentence processing as demonstrated by a new task. Paper presented at the CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, Cambridge, MA, March 27-29, 2003

Argaman V. , Mendelsohn, A., and Pasquino, J.(2001) Comparing spoken and written production of the object/subject closure ambiguity. Poster presented at the CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, Philadelphia, PA, March 15-17, 2001.[PDF] 

Argaman V. and Mendelsohn, A. (2000) The role of the comma in the resolution of closure ambiguities. Poster presented at the CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, La Jolla, CA, March 29-April 1, 2000.[PDF] 

Mendelsohn, A. and Argaman, V. (1999) Disambiguation of closure ambiguities in written production. Poster presented at the University of Southern California Speech Production Conference, Los Angeles, CA, Nov. 18, 1999.[PDF] 

Mendelsohn, A. and Pearlmutter, N. (1999) Individual differences in relative clause attachment preferences. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomics Society, Los Angeles, CA, Nov. 18-22, 1999.[PDF]

Mendelsohn, A. and Pearlmutter, N. (1999) Individual differences in relative clause attachment preferences. Poster presented at the CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, New York, NY, March 18-20, 1999 [PDF][PS]

Pearlmutter, N. and Mendelsohn, A. (1998) Serial versus parallel sentence processing. Paper presented at the CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, New Brunswick, NJ, March 19-21, 1998. 

Pearlmutter, N. and Mendelsohn, A. (1998) Serial versus parallel sentence processing. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting  of the Psychonomics Society, Dallas, TX, Nov. 19-22, 1998. 

Argaman, V., Pearlmutter, N., Garnsey, S., Mendelsohn, A., Randall, J., and Myers, E. (1998) Lexical semantics as a basis for argument structure frequency. poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomics Society, Dallas TX, Nov. 19-22, 1998. 

Argaman, V., Pearlmutter, N., Garnsey, S., Mendelsohn, A., Randall, J., and Myers, E. (1998) Lexical semantics as a basis for argument structure frequency. Poster presented at the CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, New Brunswick, NJ, March 19-21, 1998. 

Segal, E., Miller, G., Hosenfeld, C., Russell, W., Mendelsohn, A., Julian, J., Delphonse, J., and Greene, A. (1996). Some functions of person and tense in narrative interpretation. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Text and Discourse, San Diego, CA, July 10-12, 1996.