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Daragh
Sibley is currently a Ph.D. candidate at George Mason
University where he
works with computational cognitive models. He is particularly interested
in connectionist models of language perception and production.
A bit about his dissertation:
The loss of reading ability in modern day society can be
devastating, and this has spurred a large body of research on reading
impairments. Acquired surface
and phonological dyslexia, are typically thought to result from damage to
individual components of the lexical system. However, there is mounting
evidence that language systems do not operate like a collection of
independent components. This
fact has prompted his dissertation, to create a computational model of
lexical processing in which acquired dyslexias result from disordered
interactions among processing components. This will be achieved by the
development of a model of normal, skilled word reading that is capable of
processing nearly 75,000 words of English. This model will be driven into
disordered states by varying a global parameter that modulates how
components of the model interact.
The specific aims of this work are to investigate whether this
model can account for several key behavioral findings in skilled word
reading, as well as the hallmark effects of acquired surface and
phonological dyslexia. The
broader aims are to help lay the foundation for an interactionist
approach to acquired reading impairments, and cognitive impairments in
general.
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