Phillip Holcomb

Phillip Holcomb is a Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University (SDSU), affiliated with the College of Sciences and the Department of Psychology. He holds a PhD in Psychology from New Mexico State University (1984) and a BA in Psychology from SDSU (1977). His research focuses on human cognition, language comprehension and production, and electrophysiological measures, particularly using ERP techniques to study neural correlates of language processing in deaf and hearing populations.

His academic journey includes extensive work on bilingualism, sign language neurobiology, and reading mechanisms. Holcomb has advised numerous graduate students, including Lauren Magliocco, Emily Akers, and ChuChu Li, supporting thesis research on topics like ERP studies of selective attention and deaf readers' cognitive processing.

Research Interests: Holcomb’s work bridges cognitive neuroscience and linguistics, investigating neural underpinnings of language through ERP studies. Key areas include:

• Electrophysiological correlates of sign language processing
• Cross-modal lexical access in bilinguals
• Neural mechanisms of reading in deaf individuals
• Evolution of semantic/syntactic processing in real-time sentence comprehension

Grants and Funding: Holcomb leads or co-leads multiple NIH and NSF grants totaling over $2.3M, including projects on:

• Neural dynamics of reading in deaf adults
• Cross-language interactions in adult bilinguals
• ERP/fMRI studies of visual word processing

He collaborates with institutions like UC San Diego and the University of Mannheim, contributing to international research networks. His lab employs advanced neuroimaging techniques to explore language cognition’s neural basis, emphasizing translational insights for education and clinical populations.