Karolina Rataj

Karolina Rataj is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of English, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, where she also serves as Head of the Neuroscience of Language Laboratory and Coordinator of the M.A. Programme in Applied Cognitive Linguistics. She has been involved in significant research projects funded by the National Science Center and the National Centre for Research and Development, and previously held a postdoctoral researcher position at the University of Twente, Netherlands.

Her research focuses on psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, and cognitive neuroscience, particularly in the areas of figurative language comprehension (metaphor, irony, similes), semantic processing in monolingual and bilingual contexts, and electrophysiological methods such as ERPs and EEG. She investigates language processing in both healthy individuals and clinical populations, including those with schizophrenia and aphasia.

Her recent publications reveal a strong trend in experimental neurocognitive research, employing ERP components like N400, P200, and LPC to decode semantic integration, metaphor comprehension, and creative cognition. Her work frequently compares native and non-native language processing, shedding light on the cognitive effort involved in bilingualism.

• AMU Rector's Award for organisational achievements (2013)
• AMU Rector's Award for organisational achievements (2017)
• AMU Rector’s Scientific Award for publications (2019)

She has advised and collaborated on multiple research projects and grants, including the OPUS 13 project on semantic inhibition and an NCN-funded study on novel metaphoric comprehension in bilinguals. She is actively involved in academic service, serving as Deputy Chair of the Human Research Ethics Committee at AMU and as a peer reviewer for journals such as Frontiers in Psychology, Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, and Biological Psychology.

Karolina Rataj leads the Neuroscience of Language Laboratory at AMU, which specializes in EEG studies of language and cognition, and she has conducted training in neuroimaging, TMS, and ERP analysis at institutions in Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands.