Chantel Prat

Image of Chantel Prat

Chantel Prat

Professor
(206) 543-5136
Advising: Possibly accepting new graduate students in 2023-2024, please email with questions.
Interests: Brain Basis of Individual Differences in Language and Cognitive Abilities, Right Hemisphere Language, Working Memory, Bilingualism, Second Language Learning and Proficiency, Reading Ability

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.

Education

U.C. Davis (2004)

  • 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.