Christina Gagne, PhD

Area of Study / Keywords

cognitive psychology psycholinguistics compositionally concepts language representation

Research

My overall research program focuses on the human conceptual system, and my overall goal is to determine the cognitive mechanisms that allow people to represent and use conceptual knowledge. A hallmark of the conceptual system is productivity; the system is capable of generating new concepts based on existing conceptual structures. My current research examines the process of conceptual combination. The primary aim of this research is to understand how relational information is stored in the conceptual system and how such information influences the way people understand and use concepts. I am also investigating how people use language to convey information about such structures.

Overview of some areas of research that I have been working on. 

• COMPOSITIONALITY
• DEVELOPMENT OF A THEORY OF CONCEPTUAL COMBINATION
• EXAMINATION OF THE COGNITIVE MECHANISM(S) UNDERLYING THE PROCESSING OF COMPOUND AND PSEUDO-COMPOUND WORDS
• PROPERTY ATTRIBUTION AND FEATURE AVAILABILITY
• METAPHOR COMPREHENSION
• EXAMINATION OF THE NATURE OF CONCEPTS FROM AND ARISTOTELIAN-THOMISTIC PERSPECTIVE

Google Scholar Profile: http://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=WDMdNasAAAAJ 

Academia Profile (not frequently updated): https://ualberta.academia.edu/ChristinaGagne/Papers

Books and edited volumes

1. Lieber, R. (Ed.), Arndt-Lappe, S., Fàbregas, A., Gagné, C.L., & Masini F. (Assoc Eds). (August 2020) The Oxford Encyclopedia of Morphology (3-volume set). Oxford: Oxford Press. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-encyclopedia-of-morphology-9780190682361?cc=us&lang=en&#
2. Gagné, C.L. & Spalding, T.L. (Ed.) (2020). Special Issue: Semantics and Psychology of Complex Words. The Mental Lexicon. John Benjamins Publishing.
3. Spalding, T.L., Stedman, J.M., Gagné, C.L., & Kostelecky, M. (2019). The Human Person: What Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas Offer Modern Psychology. New York: Springer. https://www.springer.com/us/book/9783030339111

Publications for the 2020-2021 academic year

• Lieber, R. (Ed.), Arndt-Lappe, S., Fàbregas, A., Gagné, C.L., & Masini F. (Assoc Eds). (August 2020) The Oxford Encyclopedia of Morphology (3-volume set). Oxford: Oxford Press.
• Sana, F., Park, J. Gagné, C.L. & Spalding, T.L. (2021). The interplay between inhibitory control and metaphor conventionality. Memory & Cognition. 49, 1267-1284.
• Park, J., Sana, S., Gagné, C.L. & Spalding, T.L. (2021) Factors that influence the processing of noun-noun metaphors, Metaphor and Symbol, 36, 20-44.
• Al-Azary, H., Gagné, C.L. & Spalding, T.L (2021) Flute birds in creamy skies: The Metaphor interference effect in modifier-noun compounds. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 75, 175-181.
• Al-Azary, H.; Gagné, CL; Spalding, TL. (2020). From the sea to the sky: Metaphorically mapping water to air. Metaphor and Symbol, 35, 206-219.
• Auch, L., Gagné, C.L.; Spalding, T.L. (2020) Conceptualizing semantic transparency: A systematic analysis of semantic transparency measures in English compound words. Methods in Psychology, 3, Article 100030.

PSYCH 413 - Design and Analysis of Experiments in Psychology

Provides the background necessary to design and analyze data in any area of experimental psychology and prepares students to conduct original research. Topics include sampling distributions and hypothesis testing; issues in and analysis of between-subjects, within-subjects, and mixed designs; trend analysis; planned and post hoc comparisons; fixed and random effects factors; and efficiency and power of various experimental designs. Prerequisite: PSYCH 212, PSYCH 213 or STAT 151 or 161, and PSYCH 313 or STAT 252 or permission of the department. [Faculty of Science]

PSYCH 531 - Design and Analysis in Psychological Research I

Examination of foundational statistical concepts and methods commonly used in psychological research, including correlation, regression, and analysis of variance. To gain proficiency with these techniques, students are required to complete weekly labs and assignments using statistical software. Prerequisite: Restricted to graduate students with priority to those in Psychology. [Faculty of Science]

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