Lisa Sanders, a postdoctoral fellow in the Brain Development Lab of the University of Oregon's Department of Psychology, is being featured in the month of February.

1) What are your research interests?

I'm interested in mechanisms of cortical plasticity in humans.  I am exploring this area in several contexts: 1) the impact of limited or absent visual input on basic auditory and multi-modal processing, 2) relationships between developmental trajectories of language processing subsystems and adult plasticity in those same subsystems, 3) how differences in language experience influence basic auditory processing, and 4) the role of selective attention in plasticity during sensitive periods and in adulthood.

2) What do you like most about what you do/study?

Research is one of the few careers that never gets boring.  There is an unlimited number of interesting questions to ask and the freedom to pursue the topics that are most interesting to me.  By having several projects going at once, there is always at least one at a really exciting jump-out-of-bed-in-the-morning stage.

3) What is your most relevant publication and/or presentation.

Sanders, L. D. & Neville, H. J. (2003).  An ERP study of continuous speech processing II. Segmentation, semantics, and syntax in non-native speakers.  Cognitive Brain Research, 15, 214-227.

4) To date what is your proudest personal or professional achievement?

Receiving NIH funding for my postdoc research and training.

5) In your opinion, what are some important issues in cognitive neuroscience?

We're slowly gathering information about the many patterns of interactions between experience and genetics that result in the complex neural systems that can be studied in adults.  In addition to these precise descriptions of plasticity we need to understand the exact mechanisms for these interactions in order to best affect change rather than just observe it.

6) Why are you a member of CNS?

The size and focus of the annual meeting make it my favorite conference by far.  The newsletters and membership information help me keep track of where people are and the general direction certain departments and labs are going in as I start to apply for faculty positions.

7) Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

I hope to be heading up a lab focused on studying the organization of auditory processing in the human brain and how it gets set up that way.  In doing so I'd like to continue to be part of several current collaborations among linguistics, biologists, psychologists, and neuroscientists as well as helping to form new ones.  By being part of larger projects that pull on expertise in many different areas, I think it will be possible to ask the big questions and narrow the focus of possible answers based on evidence rather than limited resources.