Sharlene Newman

Sharlene D. Newman is an American cognitive neuroscientist, executive director of the Alabama Life Research Institute at the University of Alabama (UA), Professor in the Department of Psychology at UA, and an adjunct professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University.

Sharlene D. Newman
Alma materVanderbilt University, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Known forNeuroimaging, functional magnetic resonance imaging
AwardsCity of Bloomington Woman of the Year Award 2018
Scientific career
FieldsCognitive neuroscience
InstitutionsUniversity of Alabama, Indiana University, Carnegie Mellon University
ThesisAN fMRI of the discrepancies observed in functional neuroimaging studies of phonological perception (1999)

Her research specialises in understanding brain function using neuroimaging methods such as magnetic resonance imaging. She was one of the first to apply these neuroimaging techniques to study language processing in the human brain, which helped identify which regions of the brain are involved in different linguistic functions. She has also worked on using neuroimaging to understand other aspects of brain function, such as executive function, mathematical and spatial processing, substance addiction, and psychopathology.

Early life and education

Newman was born in Abbeville, Alabama. She studied electrical engineering at Vanderbilt University, completing her Bachelor's degree in 1993. She obtained a Master's degree and Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1996 and 1999, respectively.[1]

Research and career

Newman began her postdoctoral research studying language processing using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at Carnegie Mellon University in 1999, where she later became an associate professor.[2][3] Her work was among the first research efforts to study complex language function and processing in the human brain through neuroimaging methods.[4] Her postdoctoral work examined which regions of the brain are involved with different functions in sentence comprehension and other linguistic processes.[5][6] She also worked on applying machine learning methods to fMRI data to identify different cognitive functions from brain images.[7]

In 2004, Newman joined the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University, where has been a Professor since 2017.[3][8] She served as the associate Vice Provost for undergraduate education from 2016–19, and was named the Herman B Wells Endowed Professor in 2018.[3][9] At Indiana, she continued her research into complex language function, using functional magnetic resonance imaging to understand the brain functions involved in sentence comprehension,[10] bilingual learning,[11] and sign-language learning.[12] Her research also studied mathematical and spatial ability in adults and children.[13][14][15][16]

Newman was a founder of the Imaging Research Facility at Indiana University, and later became its director.[17] Here, her work used neuroimaging techniques to understand how substances such as alcohol and cannabis affect brain function.[18][19] Her research also looked at other aspects of brain health, such as schizophrenia, epilepsy, and concussions.[20][21][22]

Newman became the executive director of the Alabama Life Research Institute at the University of Alabama in 2019, an interdisciplinary research institute focusing on healthcare research.[3]

Awards and honours

Newman was awarded the Woman of the Year Award by the City of Bloomington, Indiana in 2018 for her advocacy work on improving educational opportunities for young Black girls and women.[23][24]

Selected publications

Newman has written over 100 publications in the field of cognitive science and neuroimaging, and authored a book chapter entitled Neural Bases of Giftedness in the book Critical Issues and Practices in Gifted Education by Carolyn M. Callahan and Jonathan A. Plucker.[25][26] Some her publications are listed below:

References
  1. "Sharlene D. Newman". Psychological and Brain Sciences. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  2. Newman, Sharlene D.; Twieg, Donald (2001). "Differences in auditory processing of words and pseudowords: An fMRI study". Human Brain Mapping. 14 (1): 39–47. doi:10.1002/hbm.1040. ISSN 1097-0193. PMC 6871811. PMID 11500989.
  3. "Cognitive Neuroscientist to Lead the Alabama Life Research Institute – University of Alabama News | The University of Alabama". Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  4. Newman, Sharlene D; Carpenter, Patricia A; Varma, Sashank; Just, Marcel Adam (2003-01-01). "Frontal and parietal participation in problem solving in the Tower of London: fMRI and computational modeling of planning and high-level perception". Neuropsychologia. 41 (12): 1668–1682. doi:10.1016/S0028-3932(03)00091-5. ISSN 0028-3932. PMID 12887991. S2CID 1406691.
  5. Newman, Sharlene D; Just, Marcel Adam; Keller, Timothy A; Roth, Jennifer; Carpenter, Patricia A (2003-04-01). "Differential effects of syntactic and semantic processing on the subregions of Broca's area". Cognitive Brain Research. 16 (2): 297–307. doi:10.1016/S0926-6410(02)00285-9. ISSN 0926-6410. PMID 12668239.
  6. Just, Marcel Adam; Newman, Sharlene D; Keller, Timothy A; McEleney, Alice; Carpenter, Patricia A (2004-01-01). "Imagery in sentence comprehension: an fMRI study". NeuroImage. 21 (1): 112–124. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2003.08.042. ISSN 1053-8119. PMID 14741648. S2CID 2912716.
  7. Mitchell, Tom; Hutchinson, Rebecca; Niculescu, Radu S; Pereira, Francisco; Wang, Xuerui; Just, Marcel; Newman, Sharlene (2004). "Learning to Decode Cognitive States from Brain Images" (PDF). Machine Learning. 57: 145–175. doi:10.1023/B:MACH.0000035475.85309.1b. S2CID 1909790 – via Springer.
  8. Newman, Morgan Newman, Phoebe Powell, Maresa Murray, Sharlene D. "What it's like to be young, black and female in Bloomington". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  9. "Four Black Scholars Appointed to New Faculty Roles at Major Universities". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. 2019-05-17. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  10. Newman, Sharlene D.; Ratliff, Kristen; Muratore, Tara; Burns, Thomas (2009-08-18). "The effect of lexical priming on sentence comprehension: An fMRI study". Brain Research. 1285: 99–108. doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2009.06.027. ISSN 0006-8993. PMID 19538948. S2CID 15121484.
  11. Rossi, Eleonora; Cheng, Hu; Kroll, Judith F.; Diaz, Michele T.; Newman, Sharlene D. (2017). "Changes in White-Matter Connectivity in Late Second Language Learners: Evidence from Diffusion Tensor Imaging". Frontiers in Psychology. 8: 2040. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02040. ISSN 1664-1078. PMC 5702476. PMID 29209263.
  12. Williams, Joshua T.; Darcy, Isabelle; Newman, Sharlene D. (2016-02-01). "Modality-specific processing precedes amodal linguistic processing during L2 sign language acquisition: A longitudinal study". Cortex. 75: 56–67. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2015.11.015. ISSN 0010-9452. PMID 26720258.
  13. "IU Study: Brain Scans Show Building Blocks Activate Spatial Ability in Children Better Than Board Games". www.newswise.com. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  14. Newman, Sharlene D.; Klatzky, Roberta L.; Lederman, Susan J.; Just, Marcel Adam (2005-05-01). "Imagining material versus geometric properties of objects: an fMRI study". Cognitive Brain Research. 23 (2): 235–246. doi:10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2004.10.020. ISSN 0926-6410. PMID 15820631.
  15. Newman, Sharlene D.; Soylu, Firat (2014-07-01). "The impact of finger counting habits on arithmetic in adults and children". Psychological Research. 78 (4): 549–556. doi:10.1007/s00426-013-0505-9. ISSN 1430-2772. PMID 23907537. S2CID 18260681.
  16. Newman, Sharlene D.; Hansen, Mitchell T.; Gutierrez, Arianna (2016). "An fMRI Study of the Impact of Block Building and Board Games on Spatial Ability". Frontiers in Psychology. 7: 1278. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01278. ISSN 1664-1078. PMC 5002428. PMID 27621714.
  17. May 10; 2019 (2019-05-10). "Psychological and brain sciences, law faculty named Wells Professors". News at IU. Retrieved 2020-07-27.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  18. "Study finds neurotransmitter may play a role in alcohol relapse, addiction". medicalxpress.com. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  19. Carter, Darla. "Indiana University studying marijuana's effect on brain". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  20. Edwards, Chad R.; Newman, Sharlene; Bismark, Andrew; Skosnik, Patrick D.; O'Donnell, Brian F.; Shekhar, Anantha; Steinmetz, Joseph E.; Hetrick, William P. (2008-04-15). "Cerebellum volume and eyeblink conditioning in schizophrenia". Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging. 162 (3): 185–194. doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2007.06.001. ISSN 0925-4927. PMC 2366060. PMID 18222655.
  21. Dutta Manaswita; Murray Laura L.; Miller Wendy; Innis Isaiah; Newman Sharlene (2020-07-20). "Cognitive–Linguistic Functions in Adults With Epilepsy: Preliminary Electrophysiological and Behavioral Findings". Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. 63 (7): 2403–2417. doi:10.1044/2020_JSLHR-19-00351. PMID 32610027.
  22. Newman, Sharlene D.; Grantz, Jesse G.; Brooks, Kelsie; Gutierrez, Arianna; Kawata, Keisuke (2020-01-01). "Association between History of Concussion and Substance Use Is Mediated by Mood Disorders". Journal of Neurotrauma. 37 (1): 146–151. doi:10.1089/neu.2019.6550. ISSN 0897-7151. PMC 7364309. PMID 31359826.
  23. "Local Women to be Honored in March at Women's History Month Events | City of Bloomington, Indiana". bloomington.in.gov. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  24. Rosdeitcher, Liz (2018-02-20). "Interwoven Threads". ScIU. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  25. Plucker, Jonathan A.; Callahan, Carolyn M. (2014). Critical Issues and Practices in Gifted Education: What the Research Says. Prufrock Press Incorporated. ISBN 978-1-61821-095-1.
  26. Newman, Sharlene D.; Malaia, Evie. "Neural Bases of Giftedness". PDF via ResearchGate. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
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