Directory Detail

Advising

Do I accept and train new psychology graduate students in general?
Yes
Am I accepting new graduate students in the upcoming year?
I am POSSIBLY accepting graduate students in 2022-2023, please contact me directly with questions
Advising Areas:
Cognition and Perception

Research

My research investigates the nature of individual differences in language and cognitive abilities. My current work at the Cognition and Cortical Dynamics Laboratory employs the combination of functional neuroimaging (fMRI), Electroencephalography, (EEG), Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), and behavioral paradigms to investigate the neural basis of individual differences in language and cognition. I am particularly interested in how biology and experience interact to give rise to complex cognitive abilities.

In line with these goals, one of my current research projects seeks to identify individual differences in second language aptitude, or the ability to acquire a second language in adulthood, using combined behavioral and neural indices.

Selected Publications

• Stocco, A., & Prat, C. S. (2014). Bilingualism trains specific brain circuits involved in flexible rule selection and application. Brain and Language, 137, 50-61.
• Yamasaki, B. L. & Prat, C. S. (2014). The importance of managing interference for second language reading ability: An individual differences investigation. Discourse Processes, 51, 445-467.
• Prat, C. S., Mason, R. A., & Just, M. A. (2011). Individual differences in the neural basis of Causal Inferencing. Brain and Language
• Long, D. L., Prat, C. S., Johns, C. L., Morris, P. E., & Jonathan, E. (2008). The importance of knowledge in vivid text memory: An individual-differences investigation of recollection and familiarity. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 15(3), 604-609.
• Prat, C. S. & Just, M. A. (2008). Brain bases of individual differences in cognition. Psychological Science Agenda, 22(5)
• Prat, C. S., Keller, T. A., & Just, M. A. (2007). Individual differences in sentence comprehension: An fMRI investigation of syntactic and lexical processing demands. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19(12), 1950-1963.
• Prat, C. S., Long, D. L., & Baynes, K. (2007). The representation of discourse in the two hemispheres: An individual differences investigation. Brain and Language, 100(3), 283-294.
• Mills, D., Plunkett, K., Prat. C., & Schaffer, G. (2005). Watching the infant brain learn words: Effects of vocabulary size and experience. Cognitive Development, 10, 19-31.
• Long, D. L., & Prat, C. S. (2002). Working memory and Stroop interference: An individual differences investigation. Memory & Cognition, 30, 294-301.

In the News

• June 30, 2021 Malayka Mottarella, Briana Yamasaki, and Chantel Prat published an article with Discourse Processes.
• April 9, 2021 An article written by Chantel Prat, Tara Madhyastha, Malayka Mottarella and Chu-Hsuan Kuo, has become the 3rd most downloaded neuroscience, Scientific Reports, paper in 2020.
• March 17, 2021 Chantel Prat is featured in this UW News article about puzzle solving. The cited study was co-authored by Andrea Stocco and Lauren Graham.
• December 9, 2020 Chantel Prat is interviewed about her life and career path in this Her Campus article.
• July 29, 2020 Chantel Prat just received an award from The Office of Naval Research
• March 16, 2020 Chantel Prat is cited in this Scientific American article about mind reading and mind control technologies
• March 4, 2020 Chantel Prat and Sapna Cheryan are featured in this UW News article about learning to code.
• February 6, 2020 Chantel Prat talks with Cody Kommers about Unexpected Advantages in this Cognitive Revolution podcast.
• November 22, 2019 Chantel Prat is quoted in this Information Age article about the key events in the story of technology and AI.
• November 13, 2019 Chantel Prat was featured on a podcast called Cognitive Revolution, talking about Unexpected Advantages
• July 10, 2019 The work of Andrea Stocco, Chantel Prat, and other co-authors, on BrainNet, is the subject of this article in UW News.
• May 31, 2019 Publishers Weekly announced that the North American rights for Chantel Prat’s book, The Neuroscience of You, were just sold to Dutton Books.
• May 17, 2019 UW Psychology research into Brain Interface Technology is included in the film I AM HUMAN, which will be debuting at Tribeca Film festival. Chantel Prat is mentioned as one of the contributors.
• June 25, 2017 Congratulations to Chantel Prat, who just received a 3 year grant from the Office of Naval Research for her research on learning complex cognitive skills.
• April 5, 2017 Congratulations to Graduate student, Brianna Yamasaki, who has won the University of Washington's Excellence in Teaching Award for 2017. (Cognition and Cortical Dynamics Laboratory; Chantel Prat is her advisor.)
• January 4, 2017 Chantel Prat was quoted in a Scientific American article that covers her research on brain structure and its impact on learning new languages.
• June 7, 2016 Andrea Stocco and Chantel Prat recently presented at the World Science Festival, in New York City, where they spoke about their Brain 2 Brain Research.
• May 10, 2016 UW Today featured the I-Labs research on brain activity and how it can impact the pace in which adults are able to learn a new language. Chantel Prat is interviewed on the subject and co-authors Brianna Yamasaki, Reina Kluender, and Andrea Stocco are also mentioned.
• February 17, 2016 I-Labs just posted a story about Marissa Pighin, a UW Psychology Honors student, who works in Chantel Prat and Andrea Stocco’s lab. She is working on a better way to treat ADHD.
• February 10, 2016 Congratulations to Chantel Prat, who just received funding from the Royalty Research Fund for her work titled Using Brain-Targeted Training to Improve Reading Comprehension: A Neuro-Feedback Approach.
• April 20, 2015 Congratulations to Jose Ceballos! Jose, a graduate student in Chantel Prat’s lab, is the recipient of a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
• January 7, 2015 It’s not every day that you make the best of the year list, but Chantel Prat and Andrea Stocco did for 2014!
• December 3, 2014 Take Andrea Stocco and Chantel Prat, add Brain to Brain Communication and you have an interesting story about telepathy -
• November 19, 2014 Chantel Prat, Andrea Stocco and Brain to Brain Communication are on everyone's mind!
• November 12, 2014 Andrea Stocco and Chantel Prat's work with Brain to Brain communication is everywhere. Check it out!
• November 12, 2014 Chantel Prat (PI) and Andrea Stocco (co-PI) have also been awarded a grant entitled "Training the Mind and Brain: Investigating Individual Differences in the Ability to Learn and Benefit Cognitively from Language Training" by the Office of Naval Research's Cognitive Science of Learning Program. They were awarded $510,000 total costs paid across 3 years.
• November 12, 2014 Andrea Stocco (PI) and Chantel Prat (co-PI) in collaboration with Rajesh Rao (co-PI) from CSE were awarded a prestigious grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation for their work on human brain-to-brain interfacing.
• October 15, 2014 Chantel Prat and Andrea Stocco show the benefits of being bilingual here -
• October 8, 2014 Andrea Stocco and Chantel Prat highlight the advantages of being bilingual -
• September 5, 2013 The research of Andrea Stocco, Rajesh Rao, and Chantel Prat on brain to brain human communication has gained enormous attention from news sites such as CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post since it was first mentioned in UW News.
• February 27, 2012 Chantel Prat’s psychology 101 class , and her dog, was featured on the front page of the UW web site.
• March 21, 2011 Assistant Professor Chantel Prat was recently awarded the 2011Tom Trabasso Young Investigator Award.

Grants

• Individual Differences in Complex Skill Learning: Relating Natural Language Learning to Learning Programming Languages