Myrna F. Schwartz, PhD

Myrna Schwartz

Associate Director, MRRI
Director, Language and Aphasia Lab; Research Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University; Adjunct Professor in Communications Sciences, Temple University

Dr. Schwartz is Associate Director of Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute (MRRI) and Research Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University. She heads the Language and Aphasia lab at MRRI, which conducts basic and applied research on language processing impairments in stroke. Ongoing projects are using behavioral, computational, and neuroimaging methods to investigate how the mind and brain access the names of things.

Research interests

Language production in normality and pathology

Semantic representation and access in the brain

Translational research in aphasia

Group-level, voxelwise mapping of the lesion correlates of aphasic processing deficits

Publications

Schwartz, M.F. & Hodgson, C. (2002). A new multiword naming deficit: Evidence and interpretation. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 19, 263-288. PMID 20957540

Fink, R.B., Brecher, A., Schwartz,M. & Robey, R. (2002). A computer implemented protocol for treatment of naming disorders: Evaluation of clinician-guided and partially self-guided instruction. Aphasiology, 16 (10/11), 1061-1086.

Schwartz, M.F., Buxbaum, L.J., Ferraro, M., Veramonti, T., & Segal, M. (2003). Naturalistic action test. Suffolk, England: Pearson Assessment, Oxford UK.

Linebarger, M. C., & Schwartz, M. F. (2005). AAC for hypothesis-testing and treatment of aphasic language production: Lessons from a "processing prosthesis'. Aphasiology, 19, 930-942.

Dell, G.S., Martin, N., & Schwartz, M.F. (2007).  A case-series test of the interactive two-step model of lexical access: Predicting word repetition from picture naming.  Journal of Memory and Language, 56, 490-520. PMID 21085621

Kimberg, D.Y., Coslett, H.B., & Schwartz, M.F. (2007).  Power in voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping.  Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19(7), pp. 1067-80. PMID 17583984

Kittredge, A.K., Dell, G.S., Verkuilen, J., & Schwartz, M.F. (2008). Where is the effect of frequency in word production? Insights from aphasic picture-naming errors. Cognitive Neuropsychology. 25, 463-492. PMCID: 2963561

Schnur, T. T., Schwartz, M. F., Kimberg, D. Y., Hirshorn, E., Coslett, H. B., & Thompson-Schill, S. L. (2009).  Localizing interference during naming: Convergent neuroimaging and neuropsychological evidence for the function of Broca's area. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(1), 322-327. PMCID: 2629229

Schwartz, M. F., Kimberg, D. Y., Walker, G. M., Faseyitan, O., Brecher, A., Dell, G. S., & Coslett, H.B.  (2009). Anterior temporal involvement in semantic word retrieval: VLSM evidence from aphasia.  Brain.  132, 3411-3427. PMCID 2792374

Oppenheim, G. M., Dell, G. S., & Schwartz, M. F. (2010). The dark side of incremental learning: A model of cumulative semantic interference during lexical access in speech production. Cognition, 114, 227-452. PMID 19854436, PMCID 2924492 [Available on 2011/2/1]

Barde, L. H. F., Schwartz, M. F., Chrysikou, E. G., & Thompson-Schill, S. L. (2010). Reduced short-term memory span in aphasia and susceptibility to interference: Contribution of material-specific maintenance deficits. Neuropsychologia, 48(4), 909-920. PMID 19925813, PMCID 2828523 [Available on 2011/3/1]

Thothathiri, M., Schwartz, M. F., & Thompson-Schill, S. L. (2010). Selection for position: The role of left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex in sequencing language. Brain and Language, 113(1), 28-38. PMID 20149424, PMCID: 2849107 [Available on 2011/4/1]

Nozari, N., Kittredge, A. K., Dell, G. S., & Schwartz, M. F. (in press). Naming and repetition in aphasia: Steps, routes, and frequency effects.  Journal of Memory and Language. PMID 21076661, PMCID: 2976549 [Available on 2011/11/1]

Walker, G. M., Schwartz, M. F., Kimberg, D. Y., Faseyitan, O., Brecher, A., Dell, G. S., & Coslett, H.B. (in press). Support for anterior temporal involvement in semantic error production in aphasia: New evidence from VLSM.  Brain and Language. PMID 20961612, PMCID pending