Spyridoula Varlokosta

Spyridoula Varlokosta, Professor of Linguistics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, is the Director of the Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics Lab, conducting research on how the human mind represents and processes language and how language interacts with other cognitive systems, such as memory, attention, etc. Within the laboratory she and her associates work on projects related to language acquisition and processing, combining theoretical linguistics with the study of typical and atypical populations, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, Specific Language Impairment, Williams syndrome, Down syndrome, Aphasia, Alzheimer’s Disease, and other types of Dementia.

Currently, she coordinates an interdisciplinary team of experts, including psycholinguists, neurolinguists, psychologists, and speech and language therapists, participating in a research project, entitled “Language and Executive Function Intervention Strategies in Language Disorders.” The project investigates the interaction between language and cognition, particularly, the cognitive mechanisms that underlie language comprehension in clinical populations with severe language impairments (adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Developmental Language Disorder, as well as adults with Broca’s aphasia) and the benefits that cognitive treatment has in enhancing their language comprehension abilities. To do so, her research team employs the eye tracking technology, that is the process of measuring eye movements to determine where a person that is reading a text is looking, what they are looking at, and for how long their gaze focuses in a particular spot. Through this technology they are attempting to gain deeper insights into language processing and the structure of the human mind. Moreover, the project targets wellbeing in developmental and acquired language deficits, by improving the language comprehension skills of individuals with language disorders, preventing, thus, undesirable consequences, such as social isolation and depression, which are associated with a poorer quality of life.

Future plans within the Psycholinguistics & Neurolinguistics Lab include the employment of the eye tracking technology to study different aspects of language and cognition, as well as the development of actions that aim at linking applied research to societal needs and challenges.