Debra Titone is a

cognitive psychologist Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and reasoning. Cognitive psychology originated in the 1960s in a break from behaviorism, which he ...

known for her research on bilingualism and

multilingualism Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

. She is currently a Professor of Psychology and a chair holder of Canada Research in Language & Multilingualism at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

. Titone is a founding member and officer of the professional society, Women in Cognitive Science. She and her colleagues have written about gender disparities in opportunities, along with the advancement of women the field of cognitive science, with specific reference to Canada. Titone is a Fellow of the Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour and Cognitive Science (CSBBCS) and, in 2019, she received their Richard C. Tees Distinguished Leadership Award. Previous honors included the SWAP Feminist Mentoring Award from the

Canadian Psychological Association The Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) is the primary organization representing psychologists throughout Canada. It was organized in 1939 and incorporated under the Canada Corporations Act, Part II, in May 1950. Its objectives are to imp ...

, awarded to Titone in 2017.

Biography

Titone received her B.A., with honors in Psychology from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. She subsequently obtained her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university with campuses in Binghamton, New York, Binghamton, Vestal, New York, Vestal, and Johnson City, New Yor ...

in 1995, where she was mentored by Cynthia Connine. With Connine, she conducted research on idiomatic expressions, focusing specifically on how individual word components influence idiom interpretation. Titone completed a postdoctoral fellowship at

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...

, supervised by Arthur Wingfield. With Wingfield, David Caplan, Gloria Waters, and others, Titone studied the impact of right-hemisphere brain damage and cognitive aging on

sentence processing Sentence processing takes place whenever a reader or listener processes a language utterance, either in isolation or in the context of a conversation or a text. Many studies of the human language comprehension process have focused on reading of s ...

. During a subsequent postdoctoral fellowship at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

, Titone extended her research on language processing to individuals with

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...

, under the mentorship of Philip Holzman. Their results suggested the language atypicalities in schizophrenia may be due to faulty

inhibitory control Inhibitory control, also known as response inhibition, is a cognitive process – and, more specifically, an executive function – that permits an individual to inhibit their impulses and natural, habitual, or dominant behavioral res ...

as opposed to a lack of sensitivity to contextual cues. Other research focused on possible deficits in associative, relational learning in schizophenia. Titone is a member of the Executive Board of the Centre for Research on Brain, Language & Music at McGill University,

Université du Québec à Montréal The Université du Québec à Montréal (English: University of Quebec in Montreal), also known as UQAM, is a French-language public university based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest constituent element of the Université du Québe ...

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

, and

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (UdeM; ; translates to University of Montreal) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-de ...

and an associate member of the International Laboratory of Brain, Music, and Sound Research. Her research has been supported by the

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC; french: Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada, CRSNG) is the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering rese ...

and the

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC; french: Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada, CRSH) is a Canadian federal research-funding agency that promotes and supports post-secondary research and traini ...

of Canada. Titone's research program at McGill explores how people read, write, listen, and speak languages, possible advantages of

bilingualism Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

, and how the processing of multiple languages is different from

monolingualism Monoglottism (Greek μόνος ''monos'', "alone, solitary", + γλῶττα , "tongue, language") or, more commonly, monolingualism or unilingualism, is the condition of being able to speak only a single language, as opposed to multilingualism. ...

. Her work has aimed to characterize the diversity of language experiences that people have and how this diversity reflects the human brain's capacity for language. Titone's research on bilingualism, executive control, and aging suggests that bilinguals may experience multiple advantages in cognitive capacity as compared to monolinguals, which may stem from enhanced neurocognitive

plasticity Plasticity may refer to: Science * Plasticity (physics), in engineering and physics, the propensity of a solid material to undergo permanent deformation under load * Neuroplasticity, in neuroscience, how entire brain structures, and the brain it ...

Representative work

*Baum, S., & Titone, D. (2014). Moving toward a neuroplasticity view of bilingualism, executive control, and aging. ''Applied Psycholinguistics'', ''35''(5), 857–894. *Gullifer, J. W., & Titone, D. (2020). Characterizing the social diversity of bilingualism using language entropy. ''Bilingualism: Language and cognition'', ''94''(1), 1-18. *Pivneva, I., Mercier, J., & Titone, D. (2014). Executive control modulates cross-language lexical activation during L2 reading: Evidence from eye movements. ''Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 40''(3), 787–796. *Titone, D. (1998). Hemispheric differences in context sensitivity during lexical ambiguity resolution. ''Brain and Language'', ''65''(3), 361-394. *Titone, D., Libben, M., Mercier, J., Whitford, V., & Pivneva, I. (2011). Bilingual lexical access during L1 sentence reading: The effects of L2 knowledge, semantic constraint, and L1–L2 intermixing. ''Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition'', ''37''(6), 1412-1431.

References

External links

Faculty home page

Language and Multilingualism Lab
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Titone, Debra Canadian psychologists Bilingualism in Canada Multilingualism Living people New York University alumni Binghamton University alumni Academic staff of McGill University Year of birth missing (living people)