Dr Paul Hoffman
Research Associate
- Email: Paul.Hoffman@manchester.ac.uk
- Telephone: +44 (0) 161 275 7336
Research
My research is concerned with the processes of semantic cognition – i.e., the ways in which we store conceptual knowledge about objects and words and access this information in a flexible, task-appropriate manner. I explore this using a variety of techniques, including:
- Case-series neuropsychological investigations, primarily of patients with semantic dementia and semantic deficits following stroke
- Computational linguistic analyses (e.g., latent semantic analysis)
- Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in healthy subjects
- Functional neuroimaging
I am also interested in the ways in which semantic knowledge can support other cognitive activities. This was the major focus of my PhD thesis, which explored the contribution of semantic knowledge to verbal short-term memory.
Biography
After completing an undergraduate degree in Psychology at the University of Leicester, I came to Manchester in 2005 to study for a PhD under the supervision of Beth Jefferies and Matt Lambon Ralph. I was awarded my doctorate in 2008 and am now employed as a post-doctoral research associate in the Neuroscience and Aphasia Research Unit.
The British Neuropsychological Society recently awarded me the Elizabeth Warrington Prize for distinguished early career research.
Collaborators and affiliated staff
- Prof. Matt Lambon Ralph (University of Manchester)
- Dr. Beth Jefferies (University of York)
- Dr. Tim Rogers (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
- Dr. Gorana Pobric (University of Manchester)
- Dr. Anna Woollams (University of Manchester)
Publications
2012
- Hoffman, P., Jefferies, E., Ehsan, S., Jones, R. W., & Lambon Ralph, M. A. (2012). How does linguistic knowledge contribute to short-term memory? Contrasting effects of impaired semantic knowledge and executive control. Aphasiology, 26(3-4), 383-403. eScholarID:121805 | DOI:10.1080/02687038.2011.581798
- Hoffman, P., Jones, R. W. and Lambon Ralph, M. A. (2012). Be concrete to be comprehended: Consistent imageability effects in semantic dementia for nouns, verbs, synonyms and associates. Cortex, in press, eScholarID:161051
2011
- Hoffman, P. and Lambon Ralph, M. A. (2011). Reverse concreteness effects are not a typical feature of semantic dementia: Evidence for the hub-and-spoke model of conceptual representation. Cerebral Cortex, 21, 2103-2112. eScholarID:100377 | DOI:10.1093/cercor/bhq288
- Hoffman, P., Jefferies, E., & Lambon Ralph, M. A. (2011). Explaining semantic short-term memory deficits: Evidence for the critical role of semantic control. Neuropsychologia, 49(3), 368-381. eScholarID:101972 | DOI:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.12.034
- Hoffman, P., Jefferies, E., & Lambon Ralph, M. A. (2011). Remembering ‘zeal’ but not ‘thing’: Reverse frequency effects as a consequence of deregulated semantic processing. Neuropsychologia, 49(3), 580-584. eScholarID:101969 | DOI:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.12.036
- Hoffman, P., Pobric, G., Drakesmith, M., & Lambon Ralph, M. A. (2011). Posterior middle temporal gyrus is involved in verbal and non-verbal semantic cognition: Evidence from rTMS. Aphasiology, in press, eScholarID:127767 | DOI:10.1080/02687038.2011.608838
- Hoffman, P., Rogers, T. T., Lambon Ralph, M. A. (2011). Semantic diversity accounts for the “missing” word frequency effect in stroke aphasia: Insights using a novel method to quantify contextual variability in meaning. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23, 2432-2446. eScholarID:94284 | DOI:10.1162/jocn.2011.21614
2010
- Hoffman, P., Jefferies, E., Lambon Ralph, M. A. (2010). Ventrolateral prefrontal cortex plays an executive regulation role in comprehension of abstract words: Convergent neuropsychological and rTMS evidence. Journal of Neuroscience, 30(46), 15450-15456. eScholarID:94286 | DOI:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3783-10.2010
2009
- Hoffman P, Elizabeth Jefferies, Ehsan S, Roy W. Jones, Lambon Ralph MA. (2009). Semantic memory is key to binding phonology: Converging evidence from immediate serial recall in semantic dementia and healthy participants. Neuropsychologia, 47, 747-760. eScholarID:1d18483 | DOI:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.12.001
- Hoffman, P., Jefferies, E., Ehsan, S., Hopper, S., Lambon Ralph, M. A. (2009). Selective short-term memory deficits arise from impaired domain-general semantic control mechanisms. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 35(1), 137-156. eScholarID:75442 | DOI:10.1037/a0013985
2008
- Jefferies, E., Hoffman, P., Jones, R., Lambon Ralph, M. A. (2008). The impact of semantic impairment on verbal short-term memory in stroke aphasia and semantic dementia: A comparative study. Journal of Memory and Language, 58(1), 66-87. eScholarID:78262 | DOI:10.1016/j.jml.2007.06.004