Prof. Andy Ellis

Personal Details

Qualifications and Awards

Miscellaneous

Experimental Psychology Society

Cognitive Section of the British Psychological Society

Professor of Psychology, University of York, 1988-present.

Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, University of York. 2000-2004.

Teaching

Research

Research Area

In broad terms, my interests are in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience. I have two main areas of interest:

1. Normal and impaired word recognition, production and learning, including the acquisition of new written word-forms and the lifespan impact of learning different words at different points in time (age of acquisition [AoA] effects). I have explored the idea that early experiences may have more of an impact on the structure and organisation of adult psychological knowledge than equivalent later experiences in two main domains; a) word recognition and production and b) face recognition. My recent work has included studies of processing speed in healthy participants, MEG analysis of word learning and AoA effects (with Piers Cornelissen and Uzma Urooj).

2. The role of the two cerebral hemispheres in processing written words. Studies in which words are presented in the left or right visual fields show that the right hemisphere is more sensitive than the left to variation in word length while the right hemisphere is more sensitive to disruptions to the normal format in which words are presented. These differential sensitivities of the two hemispheres turn out to apply to the processing of those portions of centrally fixated words that fall to one side or other of the fixation point. This matches the predictions of 'split fovea' theory. Laura Barca and I have been attempting to use MEG to track the progress through the brain of written words presented to the left or right of fixation.

I am developing both of these research themes in the context of the York Neuroimaging Centre (http://www.ynic.york.ac.uk/)

Collaborators

At York:

Piers Cornelissen, Uzma Urooj

Other collaborations:

Laura Barca, Rome. MEG study of word recognition and cerebral hemispheres.

Fernando Cuetos, Universidad de Oviedo, Spain. Word recognition and production in normal Spanish speakers; also patients with aphasia and Alzheimer's Disease.

Cristina Izura, University of Swansea, and Miguel Pérez, University of Murcia. Order of acquisition effects in laboratory word learning as a model of natural age of acquisition effects.

Annalena Venneri and Mike Shanks, University of Hull. Alzheimer's disease and functional imaging.

Supervisees

Full-time PhD: Marilena Serio, Uzma Urooj, Roberto Ferreira.

Former PhD students include:

Catherine Hodgson, now Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Manchester.

Cristina Izura, now Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Swansea.

Matt Lambon Ralph, now Professor of Psychology at the University of Manchester.

Catriona Morrison, now Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Leeds University.

Anna Scarna, now Senior Lecturer at Oxford Brookes University.

Misc.

I was co-ordinator of a 3M Euro Marie Curie Research Training Network on Language and Brain from 2004 to 2008. The network involved researchers in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, The Netherlands and the UK. Further information can be found at http://www.hull.ac.uk/RTN-LAB/

Publications

Ellis, A. W., Ferreira, R., Cathles-Hagen, P., Holt, K., Jarvis, L., & Barca, L. (2009). Visual word learning and the cerebral hemispheres: From serial to parallel processing of written words. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B, 364, 3675-3696.

Ellis, A.W. & Brysbaert, M. (2010). Split fovea theory and the role of the two cerebral hemispheres in reading: A review of the evidence. Neuropsychologia, 48, 353-365.

Ellis, A. W., Holmes, S. J., & Wright, R. L. (in press). Age of acquisition and the recognition of brand names: On the importance of being early. Journal of Consumer Psychology.

Stewart, N., & Ellis, A. W. (2008). Order of acquisition in learning perceptual categories: a laboratory analogue of the age of acquisition effect? Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 15, 70-74.

Ellis, A. W., Burani, C., Izura, C., Bromiley, A., & Venneri, A. (2006). Traces of vocabulary acquisition in the brain: evidence from covert object naming. NeuroImage, 33, 958-968.

Misc.

Copies of these papers are available on request.

Ellis, A. W., Holmes, S. J., & Wright, R. L. (in press). Age of acquisition and the recognition of brand names: On the importance of being early. Journal of Consumer Psychology.

Ellis, A. W., & Brysbaert, M. (2010). Split fovea theory and the role of the two cerebral hemispheres in reading: a review of the evidence. Neuropsychologia, 48, 353-365.

Ellis, A. W., Ferreira, R., Cathles-Hagen, P., Holt, K., Jarvis, L., & Barca, L. (2009). Word learning and the cerebral hemispheres: From serial to parallel processing of written words. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B, 364, 3675-3696.

Cornelissen, P. L., Kringelbach, M. L., Ellis, A. W., Whitney, C., Holliday, I. A., & Hansen, P. C. (2009). Activation of the left inferior frontal gyrus in the first 200 msec of reading: evidence from magnetoencephalography (MEG). Plos ONE, 4 (4), e5359, 1-13. www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0005359.

Ellis, A. W. (2009). Communication between the cerebral hemispheres in dyslexic and skilled adult readers. Revista Española de Logopedia, Fonotria y Audiologia, 29, 85-96.

Richards, R. M., & Ellis, A. W. (2009). Identity, gender, and the role of age of acquisition in face processing. Psicológica, 30, 155-178.

Richards, R. M., & Ellis, A. W. (2008). Mechanisms of identity and gender decisions to faces: Who rocked in 1986? Perception, 37, 1700-1719.

Stewart, N., & Ellis, A. W. (2008). Order of acquisition in learning perceptual categories: a laboratory analogue of the age of acquisition effect? Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 15, 70-74.

Venneri, A., McGeown, W.J., Heitanen, H., Guerrini, C., Ellis, A.W., & Shanks, M.F. (2008). The anatomical basis of semantic retrieval deficits in early Alzheimer’s disease. Neuropsychologia, 46, 496-510.

Ackerman, T., & Ellis, A. W. (2007). Where do aphasic perseverations come from? Aphasiology, 21, 1018-1038.

Barca, L., Ellis, A. W., & Burani, C. (2007). Context-sensitive rules and word naming in Italian children. Reading and Writing, 20, 495-509.

Ellis, A. W., Ansorge, L., & Lavidor, M. (2007). Words, hemispheres, and dissociable subsystems: effects of exposure duration, case alternation, priming and continuity of form on word recognition in the left and right visual fields. Brain and Language, 101, 292-303.

Ellis, A. W., Ansorge, L., & Lavidor, M. (2007). Words, hemispheres, and processing mechanisms: a response to Marsolek and Deason. Brain and Language, 101, 308-312.

Henderson, L., Barca, L., & Ellis, A. W. (2007). Interhemispheric cooperation and non-cooperation during word recognition: evidence for callosal transfer dysfunction in dyslexic adults. Brain and Language, 103, 276-291.

Burani, C., Barca, L., & Ellis, A. W. (2006). Orthographic complexity and word naming in Italian: Some words are more transparent than others. Psychological Bulletin and Review, 13, 346 - 352.

Ellis, A. W. (2006). Word finding in the damaged brain. Probing Marshall's caveat. Cortex, 42, 817-822.

Ellis, A. W., Burani, C., Izura, C., Bromiley, A., & Venneri, A. (2006). Traces of vocabulary acquisition in the brain: evidence from covert object naming. Neuroimage, 33, 958-968.

Ellis, A. W., Jordan, J. L., & Sullivan, C-A. (2006). Unilateral neglect is not unilateral: Evidence of additional neglect of extreme right space. Cortex, 42, 861-868.

Ellis, A. W., Venneri, A., & Shanks, M.F. (2006). Words, dementia and the brain. Biologist, 53, 124 - 128.

Hernandez-Munoz, N., Izura, C., & Ellis, A. W. (2006). Cognitive aspects of lexical availability. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 18, 734-755.

Holmes, S. J., & Ellis, A. W. (2006). Age of acquisition and typicality effects in three object processing tasks. Visual Cognition, 13, 884-910.

Holmes, S. J., Fitch, F. J., & Ellis, A. W. (2006). Age of acquisition affects object recognition and picture naming in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 13, 884-910.

Sage, K., & Ellis, A. W. (2006). Using orthographic neighbours to treat a case of graphemic buffer disorder. Aphasiology, 20, 851 - 870.

Ellis, A. W., Brooks, J., & Lavidor, M. (2005). Evaluating a split fovea model of visual word recognition: Effects of case alternation in the two visual fields and in the left and right halves of words presented at the fovea. Neuropsychologia, 43, 1128-1137.

Forbes-McKay, K. E., Ellis, A. W., Shanks, M. F., & Venneri, A. (2005). The age of acquisition of words produced in a semantic fluency task is highly predictive of early Alzheimer�s disease. Neuropsychologia, 43, 1625-1632.

Ellis, A.W. (2004). Length, formats, neighbours, hemispheres, and the processing of words presented laterally or at fixation. Brain and Language, 88, 355-366.

Izura, C., & Ellis, A.W. (2004). Age of acquisition effects in translation production tasks. Journal of Memory and Language, 50, 165-181.

Lavidor, M., Hayes, A., Shillcock, R., & Ellis, A. W. (2004). Evaluating a split processing model of visual word recognition: effects of orthographic neighborhood size. Brain and Language, 88, 312-320.

Sage, K., & Ellis, A. W. (2004). Lexical influences in graphemic buffer disorder. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 21, 381-400.

Cuetos, F., Martinez, T., Martinez, C., Izura, C., & Ellis, A. W. (2003). Lexical processing in Spanish patients with probable Alzheimer's disease. Cognitive Brain Research, 17, 549-561.

Lavidor, M., & Ellis, A. W. (2003). Interhemispheric integration of letter stimuli presented foveally or extra-foveally. Cortex, 39, 69-83.

Cuetos, F., Aguado, G., Izura, C., & Ellis, A.W. (2002). Aphasic naming in Spanish: Predictors and errors. Brain and Language, 82, 344-365.

Lavidor, M., & Ellis, A.W. (2002). Word length and orthographic neighborhood size effects in the left and right cerebral hemispheres. Brain and Language, 80, 45-62.

Lavidor, Ellis, A.W., & Pansky, A. (2002). Case alternation and length effects in the two cerebral hemispheres: a study of English and Hebrew. Brain and Cognition, 50, 257-271.

Monaghan, J., & Ellis, A.W. (2002). What, exactly, interacts with spelling-sound consistency in word naming? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 28, 183-206.

Monaghan, J., & Ellis, A.W. (2002). Age of acquisition and the completeness of phonological representations. Reading and Writing, 15, 759-788.

Lavidor, M., & Ellis, A. W. (2001). Mixed-case effects in lateralized word recognition. Brain and Cognition, 46, 192-195.

Lavidor, M., Ellis, A. W., Shillcock, R., & Bland, T. (2001). Evaluating a split processing model of visual word recognition: effects of word length. Cognitive Brain Research, 12, 265-272.

Ellis, A.W. & Lambon Ralph, M.A. (2000). Age of acquisition effects in adult lexical processing reflect loss of plasticity in maturing systems: Insights from connectionist networks. JEP: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 26, 1103-1123.

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