معرفی
Vicky Tzuyin Lai is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences Program at the University of Arizona. Her research focuses on the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying language processing, with particular emphasis on metaphor comprehension, emotion-language interactions, and bilingual cognition. She holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics and Cognitive Science from the University of Colorado Boulder and completed postdoctoral training at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and the University of South Carolina.
- Education: Ph.D. (2009), University of Colorado Boulder
- Work Experience: Postdoc at Max Planck Institute (2010–2013), University of South Carolina (2013–2016)
Dr. Lai’s research examines three core areas: (1) figurative language processing, including metaphor embodiment and social-affective functions; (2) emotion encoding and perception in language; and (3) bilingual language effects on thought. Her lab employs ERP and fMRI techniques to study neural correlates of meaning construction.
Her recent work explores how idiomatic language processing involves compositional mechanisms and how emotional context influences metaphor interpretation. Key findings include the role of motion semantics in temporal metaphors and the impact of bilingualism on event categorization.
- Awards: George H. Davis Travel Fellowship (2020), Psychonomic Society Fellow (2018)
- Teaching: Courses include Neural Basis of Language, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Language and Thought.
She collaborates on interdisciplinary projects, such as the Phishing Email Suspicion Test (PEST), and investigates emoji processing in digital communication. Her research bridges cognitive linguistics, neuroscience, and social psychology.
