Teresa Sylvester

My scientific background includes a Bachelor in Psychology and I’m currently studying in the MSc.  Program: Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience [at the Freie Universität Berlin]. My previous research was focused on the emotional content of words, measured through ratings for arousal, valence and imageability. My interest is in studying how word meanings change over the life span. This research is based on the BAWL (SOURCE), in which adults rate a wordlist. I have started to create a KidBAWL, with word ratings gathered from children.

My current  focus is the study of children, who have just learned to read. Subsequently this research will be augmented in various ways, for example by examining if differences in word meanings arise from written or spoken words, and whether the word ratings change over the course of a lifespan. Within these topics, I´m also interested in investigating the age at which gender differences appear as currently reported in the BAWL. The research on neural correlates of affective word processing is also a topic of interest. Additionally, I would like to test whether impairments like dyslexia mediate or change the emotional aspectsof words. I foresee in this research the potential for a significant impact on clinical psychology, pedagogy, and developmental psychology and other practical applications.. Currently, I have started to create a design for my master thesis in which I will continue to compile word ratings of children with and without a dyslexia background and additionally apply neuroimaging methods, probably fNIRS.