Ron Borowsky's Research Page

(I'm the one leaning on the tree; my wife: Patti McDougall (Assoc. Dean, STM), and our son: Braedy)

Laboratories:

• Cognitive Science Lab: Perception and Language; Cognitive Neuroimaging Lab

Students and Postdocs (present and past):

• Naila Kuhlmann (NSERC summer student 2009)
• Carrie Esopenko (PhD student, NSERC Scholar)
• Jacqueline Cummine (PhD student, NSERC Scholar, now an Asst. Professor at U. of Alberta)
• Jeff Bird (Medical student, Dean of Medicine Summer Research student 2006, Research Asst 2007)
• Amy Harrison (NSERC summer student 2005, 2006, B.A. Honours student, now a CIHR PhD student at McMaster)
• Francis Shih (Medical student, Dean of Medicine Summer Research student 2004 & 2005)
• Greg Kraushaar (MD, Resident in Radiology)
• Jon Farthing (PhD in Kinesiology, now an Asst. Prof. in Kinesiology, UofS)
• Sofia Vorontsova (NSERC summer student 2004 & 2005; now a graduate student at Waterloo)
• Kim Cote (B.A. Honours, 2004, currently a Speech and Language Pathology student at U. of Alberta)
• Tammy Wile (M.A., 2003, now a Neuropsychometrist at Queen Elizabeth Hospital/Dalhousie U.)
• Jennifer Martin (Phillips) (NSERC summer student 2002 and 2003, B.A. Linguistics, currently a Speech and Language Pathologist at Royal University Hospital
• Dr. Chris Friesen (NSERC postdoc, 2002-03; now an Asst. Prof. at NDSU)
• Dr. Bill Owen (M.A., 1999; Ph.D. 2002; now an Assoc. Prof. and Director of Teaching and Learning center at UNBC)
• Lynn Blake (B.A. Honours, 2000 /NSERC summer student; recently graduated from Speech and Language Pathology at McGill)
• Lee Hnatiuk (B.A. Honours, 1998, now a Law student, UofS)
• Nikki Dooley (Fonos) (B.A. Honours, 1997; now a Speech and Language Pathologist

Current grant support:

• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
  Basic language processes: Behavioural and functional localization. (2008-2013)

Previous grant support:

• NSERC (1999-2003), NSERC (2003-2008)



• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC; 1996-2000)

 



Editorial Boards:

• The Mental Lexicon

 

• Journal of Neurolinguistics

 

Academic background:

• 1985-1989: B.A. Hons. (U. of Saskatchewan)
• 1989-1991: M.A. (U. of Waterloo)
• 1991-1993: Ph.D. (U. of Waterloo)
• 1993-1995: NSERC Post-doctoral Fellow (U. of Victoria)
• 1995-1999: Assistant Professor (U. of Saskatchewan)
• 1999-2006: Associate Professor (U. of Saskatchewan)
• 2006-present: Professor of Psychology (U. of Saskatchewan)
• 2007: Acting Associate Dean, College of Graduate Studies and Research (U. of Saskatchewan)

 

Research background and interests:

My graduate training at the University of Waterloo and post-doctoral training at the University of Victoria concentrated on basic research issues in reading (i.e., the development of a multistage activation framework, and a distributed neural-network memory model of orthographic, phonological, and semantic processing during visual word recognition). I have since expanded my interests to the study of the localization of, and interactions between, language processes (i.e., basic speech perception and reading processes), and applied issues in reading (i.e., identifying subtypes of acquired and developmental dyslexias; reading acquisition).




My main program of research explores basic language processes (particularly those involved in reading and speech perception/production), and the hypothesis of modularity of mind. To be clear, by modularity of mind I am referring to a rather broad definition of the concept, whereby mental processes can be broken down into component processing subsystems (or modules), both from a behavioural/temporal perspective (i.e., accuracy, reaction time) and a spatial perspective (i.e., neuroanatomical localization). I also maintain a program of research that strives to bridge basic research on language processing to applications for diagnosing language ability and process reliance.





The following images are fMRI maps from a study where participants verbally identified 'what' is, 'where' is, or 'how' do you interact with, a picture or word stimulus (see Borowsky et al., 2005, Brain Topography). The anatomical underlays have 10% of the cortical surface removed to facilitate the localization of function.












Representative Publications:

o        Cummine, J., Borowsky, R., Stockdale Winder, F. & Crossley, M. (accepted). Basic Reading Skills and Dyslexia: Three Decades Following Right vs. Left Hemispherectomy for Childhood-Onset Intractable Epilepsy. Epilepsy & Behavior.

o        Hall, P.A., Elias, L.J., Fong, G.T., Harrison, A.H., Borowsky, R., & Sarty, G.E. (2008). Neuropsychological and functional anatomical correlates of successful and unsuccessful self-regulation of physical activity behavior, Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 30, 432-449.

o        Cummine, J., Borowsky, R., Vakorin, V., Bird, J., & Sarty, G.E. (2008). The Relationship Between Naming Reaction Time and Functional MRI Parameters in Broca’s Area. Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 26, 824-834.

o        Esopenko, C., Borowsky, R., Cummine, J., & Sarty, G.E. (2008). Mapping the Semantic Homunculus: A Functional and Behavioural Analysis of Overt Semantic Generation. Brain Topography, 21, 22-35.

o        Borowsky, R. & Esopenko, C., Cummine, J., & Sarty, G.E. (2007). Neural representations of visual words and objects: A functional MRI study on the modularity of reading and object processing. Brain Topography, 20, 89-96.

o        Farthing, J.P., Borowsky, R., Chilibeck, P.D., Binsted, G. & Sarty, G.E. (2007) Neuro-physiological adaptations associated with cross-education of strength. Brain Topography, 20, 77-88.

o        Vakorin, V.A., Krakovska, O.O., Borowsky, R. & Sarty, G.E. (2007). Inferring neural activity from BOLD signals through nonlinear optimization. NeuroImage, 38, 248-260.

o        Vakorin, V.A., Borowsky, R. & Sarty, G.E. (2007). Characterizing the functional MRI response using Tikhonov regularization. Statistics in Medicine, 26, 3830-3844.

o        Farthing, J., Cummine, J., Borowsky, R., Chilibeck, P., Binsted, G. & Sarty, G. (2007). False activation in the brain ventricles related to task-correlated breathing in fMRI speech and motor paradigms. Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine, 20, 157-168.

o        Borowsky, R., Cummine, J., Owen, W.J., Friesen, C.K., Shih, F. & Sarty, G. (2006). FMRI of Ventral and Dorsal Processing Streams in Basic Reading Processes: Insular Sensitivity to Phonology. Brain Topography: Journal of Functional Neurophysiology, 18, 233-239.

o        Borowsky, R. & Besner, D. (2006). Parallel Distributed Processing and Lexical-Semantic Effects in Visual Word Recognition: Are a Few Stages Necessary? Psychological Review, 113, 181-195.

o        Besner, D. & Borowsky, R. (2006). Plaut and Booth's New Simulations: What Have We Learned? (Postscript to Borowsky & Besner, 2006) Psychological Review, 113, 194-195.

o        Borowsky, R., Loehr,J., Friesen,C.K., Kraushaar, G., Kingstone, A. & Sarty, G. (2005). Modularity and Intersection of 'What', 'Where', and 'How' Processing of Visual Stimuli: A New Method of fMRI Localization. Brain Topography: Journal of Functional Neurophysiology. 18, 67-75.

o        Borowsky, R., Owen, W.J., Wile, T.A., Friesen, C.K., Martin, J.L. & Sarty, G.E. (2005). Neuroimaging of Language Processes: FMRI of Silent and Overt Lexical Processing and the Promise of Multiple Process Imaging in Single Brain Studies. Canadian Association of Radiologists Journal, 56, 204-213.

o        McDougall, P., Borowsky, R., MacKinnon, G.E., & Hymel, S. (2005). Process Dissociation of Sight Vocabulary and Phonetic Decoding in Reading: A New Perspective on Surface and Phonological Dyslexias. Brain & Language, 92, 185-203.

o        Sarty, G. & Borowsky, R. (2005). Functional MRI Activation Maps from Empirically Defined Curve Fitting. Magnetic Resonance Engineering, 24b, 46-55.

o        Owen, W.J., Borowsky, R., & Sarty, G.E. (2004). FMRI of two measures of phonological processing in visual word recognition: Ecological validity matters. Brain and Language (Mental Lexicon Special Issue), 90, 40-46.

o        Wile, T.L. & Borowsky, R. (2004). What does rapid automatized naming (RAN) measure? A new RAN task compared to naming and lexical decision. Brain & Language (Mental Lexicon Special Issue), 90, 47-62.

o        Owen, W.J. & Borowsky, R. (2003). Examining the interactivity of lexical orthographic and phonological processing. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 57, 290-303.

o        Borowsky, R., Owen, W.J., & Masson, M.E.J. (2002). Diagnostics of phonological lexical processing: Pseudohomophone naming advantages, disadvantages, and baseword frequency effects. Memory & Cognition, 30, 969-987.

o        Borowsky, R., Owen, W.J., & Sarty, G.E. (2002). The role of the left hemisphere in motor control of touch: A functional magnetic resonance imaging analysis. Brain & Cognition, 49, 96-101.

o        Borowsky, R. & Besner, D. (2000). Lexical access codes in visual word recognition: Are the joint effects of context and stimulus quality diagnostic? Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 54, 196-207.

o        Borowsky, R., Owen, W.J., & Fonos, N. (1999). Reading speech and hearing print: Constraining models of visual word recognition by exploring connections with speech perception. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology (Special Issue: Visual Word Recognition), 53, 294-305.

o        Borowsky, R. & Masson, M.E.J. (1999). Frequency effects and lexical access: On the interpretation of null pseudohomophone base-word frequency effects. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 25, 270-275.

o        Masson, M.E.J. & Borowsky, R. (1998). More than meets the eye: Context effects on word identification. Memory and Cognition, 26, 1245-1269.

o        Borowsky, R. & Masson, M.E.J. (1996). Semantic ambiguity effects in word-identification. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 22, 63-85.

o        Masson, M.E.J. & Borowsky, R. (1995). Unsettling questions about semantic ambiguity in connectionist models: Comment on Joordens and Besner (1994). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 21, 509-514.

o        Borowsky, R. & Besner, D. (1993). Visual word recognition: A multistage activation model. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 19, 813-840.

o        Borowsky, R. & Besner, D. (1991). Visual word recognition across orthographies: On the interaction between context and degradation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 17, 272-276.

 

Contact information:

 


Ron Borowsky, PhD, Professor
Cognitive and Neuroscience Programs, Dept. of Psychology, College of Arts & Science
Associate Member in Neurosurgery, College of Medicine

mail:
Department of Psychology
9 Campus Drive
University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Canada S7N 5A5

Phone: (306) 966-6679
Fax: (306) 966-6630
E-mail: ron.borowsky@usask.ca

 

Link to Department of Psychology page