Fatemeh Abdollahi

Post-doctoral fellow

Contact

Email: fatemeh@bu.edu

 

Education

Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology and Language Science, Penn State University (2019)

 M.S. in Cognitive Psychology, Penn State University (2015)

 B.S. in Linguistics and Psychology, Eastern Michigan University (2011)

 

Research Interests

Bilingualism

Neurolinguistics

Language processing across the lifespan (experience w/ ages 5-80 years)

Language impairment in aphasia

Foreign-accent processing

Translational Research

Language and literacy development

 

Current Projects 

Predicting Rehabilitation Outcomes in Bilingual Aphasia using Computational Modeling (PROCOM)

 

Selected Publications

Abdollahi, F., Grey, S. & Van Hell, J.G. (under review). Foreign-accented sentence comprehension is challenging for older adults: ERP evidence from semantic and grammar processing. Journal of Neurolinguistics.

Abdollahi, F., Grey, S. & Van Hell, J.G. (in preparation). Neurocognitive correlates of structured exposure to foreign-accented speech.

Abdollahi, F. & Van Hell, J.G. (in preparation). Underlying mechanisms of syntactic processing in child and adult second language learners.

Donnelly Adams, K.D., Abdollahi, F., Li, P., & Van Hell, J.G. (in preparation). Cross-language interaction in  auditory and visual word processing in child classroom L2 learners: An electrophysiological study.

Van Hell, J.G., Donnelly Adams, K., & Abdollahi, F. (2019). Individual variation in  bilingual language processing: the impact of second language proficiency and executive function on cross-language activation. In J. Darquennes, J. Salmons & W. Vandenbussche (Eds.), Language Contact. Berlin / New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Van Hell, J. G., & Abdollahi, F. (2017). Individual variation in syntactic processing in the second language: Behavioral and electrophysiological approaches. In: E. Segers & P. van den Broek (Eds.). Developmental Perspectives in Written Language and Literacy (pp. 257-273). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

 

Selected Presentations and Invited Talks

Abdollahi, F. & Van Hell, J.G. (2019, March). Language and aging: Neurocognitive correlates of accent processing. Poster presentation at the CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, Boulder, CO.

Abdollahi, F. & Van Hell, J.G. (2017, November). Neurocognitive correlates of child and adult syntactic processing: Evidence from classroom second language learners. Poster presented at The Society for the Neurobiology of Language Conference, Baltimore, MD.

Abdollahi, F. (2017, June). Neurocognitive correlates of syntactic processing in adult second language learners. Invited paper presented at the LANSPAN Colloquium Series, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands. 

Donnelly Adams, K., Abdollahi, F., Li, P., & Van Hell, J.G. (2017, March). Cross-language interaction in auditory and visual word processing in bilinguals: Electrophysiological and behavioral evidence. Poster presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society meeting, San  Francisco, CA.

Abdollahi, F., Tokowicz, N., & Van Hell, J.G. (2016, November). Second language learning in child and adult classrooms: Neurocognitive correlates of syntactic processing. Poster presented at Psychonomics, Boston, MA.

Abdollahi, F., & Van Hell, J.G. (2016, June). Native and non-native syntactic processing in child and adult second language learners. Paper presented at Centre for Language Studies, Non-nativeness day, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

Donnelly Adams, K., Abdollahi, F., Ammerman, K., & Li, P., Van Hell, J.G. (2016, April). Mapping novel word forms to meaning in beginning child and adult second language learners: Electrophysiological and behavioral evidence. Poster presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society meeting, New York, NY.

Abdollahi, F., & Van Hell, J.G. (2016, April). Neurocognitive correlates of syntactic processing in child and adult second language learners. Poster presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society meeting, New York, NY. 

Donnelly Adams, K., Abdollahi, F., Feldman, L.B., Li, P., & Van Hell, J.G. (2015, May). Cognate effects in visual and auditory lexical decision in child and adult bilinguals: Do phonological cues constrain lexical activation to one language? Paper presented at Int’l Symposium on Bilingualism, New Brunswick, NJ.

Abdollahi, F., Morid, M., & Van Hell, J.G. (2014, May). Effects of L1 Farsi on L2 English sentence processing in Farsi-English bilinguals: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence. Poster presented at Int’l Symposium on Bilingualism, New Brunswick, NJ.

Abdollahi, F., Donnelly Adams, K., & Van Hell, J.G. (2014, March). Neurocognitive correlates of lexical processing in child novice second language learners. Paper Presented at GURT, Georgetown University, Washington D.C.