Karen Froud
Director, Neurocognition of Language Lab
Chair, Institutional Review Board
Office Location:
1155 Building 528Office Hours:
By AppointmentTC Affiliations:
Faculty Expertise:
Scholarly Interests
Neural underpinnings of language representation and processing, especially in pathological situations: developmental and acquired speech and language disorders; language and cognitive processing in schizophrenia. Neural correlates of second language acquisition in adults. Contributions of cognitive neuroscience to determining efficacy and mechanisms of change in speech-language pathology and educational interventions.
Selected Publications
Froud, K. & Khamis-Dakwar, R. (2012). MisMatch Negativity Responses in children with a diagnosis of Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS). American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. 2012;21:302.
Khamis-Dakwar, R., Froud, K. & Gordon, P. (in press). Syntactic and Morphological Development in Arabic Diglossia. Journal of Child Language.
Khamis-Dakwar, R. & Froud, K. (in press). Aphasia, language and culture: Arabs in the U.S. To appear in Multilingual Matters: Multilingual Aphasia.
Froud, K., Titone, D., Marantz, A. & Levy, D.L. (2010). Brain/behavior asymmetry in schizophrenia: a preliminary MEG study of cross-modal semantic priming in schizophrenia. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 23, 3, 223-239.
Galgano, J. & Froud, K. (2008). Evidence of the Voice-Related Cortical Potential: an electroencephalographic study. NeuroImage, 41, 1313-1323. (Also Corrigendum. NeuroImage 42, published online July 2008.)Froud, K. & van der Lely, H.K.J. (2008). The count-mass distinction in typically developing and grammatically specifically language impaired children: new evidence on the role of syntax and semantics. Journal of Communication Disorders, 41, 274-303.
Khamis-Dakwar, R., & Froud, K. (2007). Lexical processing in two language varieties: an event-related brain potential study of Arabic native speakers. In Mughazy, M. (Ed.) Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XX, 153-166.
Froud, K. (2006). Unaccusativity as lexical argument reduction: evidence from aphasia. Lingua, 116, 1631-1650.
Gardner, H., Froud, K., McLelland, A. & van der Lely, H.K.J. (2006). The development of the Grammar and Phonology Screening (GAPS) test to assess key markers of specific language difficulties in young children. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 41 (5), 513-540.
Allen, K., Carlile, S., Alais, D. & Froud, K. (2005). Persistence of auditory streaming preserves release from masking. Canadian Acoustics, 33, 3, 46-47.
Druks, J. & Froud, K. (2002). The syntax of single words: evidence from a patient with a function word deficit. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 19(3), 207-244.
Froud, K. (2001). Prepositions and the lexical / functional divide: aphasic evidence. Lingua, 111, 1-28.
Froud, K. (1998). Aphasic evidence for the syntactic determination of unaccusativity. UCL Working Papers in Linguistics, 10, 1-18.
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Froud, K. (in press). Understanding and addressing the theory-to-practice divide in clinical training and practice. To appear in Bowen, C. (Ed.), Children’s Speech Sound Disorders.
van der Lely, H.K.J., Froud, K., Gardner, H., McLelland, A. (2007). The grammar and phonology screening test (GAPS).
Bury, D., Froud, K., Horsey, R. & Szendroi, K. (Eds.) (2004). Focus and the interaction between syntax and pragmatics. Lingua, 114, 3, 227-388.
WORK IN PROGRESS
Froud, K., Titone, D., Marantz, A. & Levy, D.L. (submitted). Brain/behavior asymmetry in schizophrenia: a preliminary MEG study of cross-modal semantic priming in schizophrenia. Journal of Neurolinguistics.
Froud, K. & Khamis-Dakwar, R. Diglossic variety switching: an event-related potential study of Arabic native speakers. (In preparation.)
Froud, K., Galgano, J., Randazzo, M. & Krieger, L. Acoustic and Spirometric Correlates of Phonation in Young and Middle-Aged Adults. (In preparation.)
Galgano, J. & Froud, K. Age-related changes of the voice-related cortical potential (VRCP). (In preparation.)
Sibuma, B., Froud, K., & Black, J. Effects of dimensionality on emotional face processing: an electrophysiological investigation. (In preparation.)
Active Professional Organizations
Society for Neuroscience
Linguistics Society of America
Organization for Human Brain Mapping
Cognitive Neuroscience Society
British Aphasiology Society
Linguistics Association of Great Britain
Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists
Arabic Linguistics SocietyBiographical Information
Dr Karen Froud is Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Education, in the Department of Biobehavioral Sciences at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Dr Froud trained as a speech-language pathologist in the UK and worked with adults with severe neurological disabilities at the Royal Hospital for Neurodisability in London. She returned to academia to complete a master’s and PhD in Theoretical Linguistics at University College London. She then held a position as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Center for Developmental Language Disorders and Cognitive Neuroscience, where she conducted research on the effects of language impairment on the educational attainment and cognitive abilities of children. She participated in the development of the Grammar and Phonology Screening Test (the GAPS), the first assessment of its kind intended for use by parents, teachers and paraprofessionals for the early identification of language impairment.
In 2001, Dr Froud was recruited as a research fellow to the Mind Articulation Project at MIT. Using several different brain imaging modalities, including fMRI and MEG, she developed studies on the neuroscience of language and cognitive impairments in stroke and schizophrenia. She was awarded the Essell Young Investigator Award in 2003 by the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, and joined the faculty at Teachers College later the same year.
At TC, Dr Froud founded and directs the Neurocognition of Language Lab, a state of the art facility that uses high density electroencephalography to investigate questions about language, cognition and learning across the lifespan. She teaches graduate courses in neuroscience research methods, EEG lab methods, and other electives; she also directs the master's thesis program. She is the founder of SLP-Cambodia, providing services, education and training around Siem Reap for families and children via the medical outreach NGO Safe Haven.
Dr Froud’s work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association, the National Institute for Deafness and Communication Disorders, the National Institutes of Health, and several foundations. She and her students regularly present at national and international conferences, especially the meetings of the Society for Neuroscience, the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, and the Organization for Human Brain Mapping. Dr Froud has published in journals including NeuroImage, Journal of Neurolinguistics, Lingua, the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, and the Journal of Cognitive Neuropsychology, as well as making contributions to edited volumes including Perspectives in Arabic Linguistics, Multicultural Aspects of Aphasia, and Children’s Speech Sound Disorders.
Grants
Teachers College, Columbia University Vice President’s Grant for Student Research in Diversity (2012) Sponsor. Evaluating Dosage Effects of Head Start Utilizing Electrophysiological Biomarkers. $1,000
Teachers College, Columbia University Provost's Investment Fund (2012) . $20,000
Teachers College, Columbia University Vice President’s Grant for Student Research in Diversity (2011) Sponsor. Neural correlates of African American English processing. $3,000
Teachers College, Columbia University Dean’s Grant for Student Research (2011) Sponsor. Specialized reading skills in Spanish-speaking adult neoliterates: an ERP study. $2,000
American Speech, Language & Hearing Association award for Students Preparing for Academic and Research Careers (SPARC) (2010) Sponsor. Neurocognitive investigations of African American Vernacular English as an instance of diglossia. $1,500
National Institutes of Mental Health. Co-Investigator (PI: George Bonnano). Predictors and diagnostic markers of prolonged grief. $1,100,000
Teachers College, Columbia University Provost’s Faculty Development Award (2009) Awardee. Speech-Language Pathology Continuing Education and Service Provision in Cambodia. $20,000
American Speech, Language & Hearing Association award for Students Preparing for Academic and Research Careers (SPARC) (2009) Sponsor. Neurocognitive investigations of sensory processing in developmental dyslexia. $1,500
Croll Foundation (2007-2009) Co-investigator (PIs John Saxman PhD, Bruce Roseman MD; other co-investigators Erika Levy PhD, Peter Gordon PhD). Changes in Speech, Language, and Motor abilities following therapeutic treatment for Benign Rolandic Epilepsy in children. $1,000,000
National Institutes of Health / National Institute for Deafness and other Communication Disorders, F-31 (2007-2008) Sponsor. (Pre-doctoral trainee: Jessica Galgano) Neural correlates of laryngeal movement associated with young and aging voice planning and production: ERP characteristics of the Voice-Related Cortical Potential. $27,958
American Speech, Language & Hearing Association award for Students Preparing for Academic and Research Careers (SPARC) (2007) Sponsor. Integrating neuroscience educational experiences into master’s level speech-language pathology training. $1,500
Teachers College Policy & Research Doctoral Fellowship Award (2007-2008) Sponsor. Neural correlates of vowel perception in Spanish-speaking learners of English: a study of developing automaticity. $6,000
Spencer dissertation fellowship (2006-2007) Sponsor. Neural correlates of laryngeal movement associated with young and aging voice planning and production. $3,000
Spencer dissertation fellowship (2006-2007) Sponsor. Syntactic and morphological development in Arabic diglossia. $3,000
Dean’s Faculty Diversity Research Award (2006) Principal Investigator. An investigation of the neural correlates of diglossic language processing in native Arabic speakers. $3,000
Essell Young Investigator Award, National Alliance for Research into Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders (2003-2005) Principal Investigator. A magnetoencephalographic study of lexical processing and formal thought disorder in schizophrenia. $60,000
Office Location
Faculty Office -- 528 West 121st St., Room 1155B (by appointment only -- email to request)
Laboratory -- 528 West 121st St., Room 1155 (active research - no unscheduled drop ins please)
Professional Presentations
Froud, K., Khamis-Dakwar, R. & Randazzo, M. MMN responses in acquired and developmental apraxia of speech: evidence for phonological involvement. Poster presented at Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, San Francisco, April 2011.
Froud, K., Tsakali, V. & Wexler, K. Late maturation of Raising in English: evidence from typically developing children. Poster presented at Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition: North America (GALANA), Philadelphia, PA, September 2010.
Khamis-Dakwar, R. & Froud, K. Neurocognitive investigations of codeswitching in Arabic Diglossia: breaking with tradition. Arabic Linguistics Symposium, Austin, TX, April 2010.
Garcia, P. & Froud, K. Longitudinal change in MMN responses to English vowels by a Spanish-speaking learner of English. Poster presented at Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, Montreal, QC, April 2010.
Khamis-Dakwar, R., Randazzo, M., & Froud, K. Phonological representation in Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS): An ERP study. Poster presented at Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, Montreal, QC, April 2010.
Maddox, C., Black, J. & Froud, K. An electrencephalography study of two forms of reasoning. Poster presented at Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, Montreal, QC, April 2010.
Purdy, J.D. & Froud, K. Event-related potential responses to grammaticality violations involving verbs: A possible index of increasing second-language proficiency. Poster presented at Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, Montreal, QC, April 2010.
Garcia, P. & Froud, K. Speech perception in late Spanish-English bilinguals. Presentation at the Association of Latin-American Students, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, March 2010.
Khamis-Dakwar, R. & Froud, K. Neurocognitive investigations of codeswitching in Arabic diglossia. Georgetown University Round Table, Georgetown, MD, March 2010.
Purdy, J.D. & Froud, K. Unaccusativity and neurocognitive indices of second language acquisition: An ERP study. Georgetown University Round Table, Georgetown, MD, March 2009.
Khamis-Dakwar, R., Froud, K. & Boudelaa, S. Lexical Processing in diglossic code switching between Modern Standard Arabic and Palestinian Colloquial Arabic: An event-related brain potential study of Arabic native speakers. Poster presented at Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, April 2009.
Froud, K., Khamis-Dakwar, R. & Randazzo, M. Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS): Neurophysiological evidence for phonological involvement. To be presented at American Speech-Language-Hearing Association annual meeting, Chicago, November 2008.
Froud, K. Applicability of neurocognitive approaches to the study of second language acquisition. Presentation at American Association of Applied Linguistics Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., March 2008.
Froud, K. Interdisciplinary approaches to second language acquisition. Presentation at American Association of Applied Linguistics Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., March 2008.
Froud, K. & Galgano, J. Using EEG to determine characteristics of neural preparation for voicing. Presentation at Voice Foundation Symposium, Philadelphia, PA, June 2007.
Galgano, J., Froud, K. & Hirsch, J. Event-related fMRI reveals age-related changes on sensorimotor activation during phonation. Presentation at Voice Foundation Symposium, Philadelphia, PA, June 2007.
Sibuma, B., Black, J. & Froud, K. Examining the Equivalency of Visual Designs on Face Processing: An Event-Related Potential Study. Poster presented at Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, New York, May 2007.
Baer, T. & Froud, K. Neural responses to major / minor chord changes in musical phrases: an ERP study. Poster presented at Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, New York, May 2007.
Garcia, P. & Froud, K. N100 and P300 responses to native and non-native vowels in late Spanish-English bilinguals. Poster presented at Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, New York, May 2007.
Purdy, J.D. & Froud, K. The influence of L1 properties on storage of L2 parsing representations in procedural memory: an ERP study. Poster presented at Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, New York, May 2007.
Galgano, J. & Froud, K. Electroencephalography (EEG) reveals age-related changes of the Voice-Related Cortical Potential (VRCP) during phonation. Poster presented at Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, New York, May 2007.
Sibuma, B., Froud, K., & Black, J. Electrophysiological evidence of potential interaction between dimensionality and facial expression processing. Poster presented at the Association for Psychological Science Annual Convention, New York, NY, May 2006.
Froud, K. Lexical access in schizophrenic adults: a magnetoencephalographic investigation of lexical frequency effects and their neural correlates in disordered temporal lobe functioning. Poster presented at Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, San Francisco, April 2006.
Sibuma, B., Froud, K., & Black, J. Effects of dimensionality on face processing: an electrophysiological investigation. Poster presented at Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, San Francisco, April 2006.
Khamis-Dakwar, R. & Froud, K. Lexical processing in two language varieties: An event-related brain potential study of Arabic native speakers. Presentation at Arabic Linguistics Symposium, Kalamazoo, March 2006.
Froud, K., Levy, D., Marantz, A. & Titone, D. Semantic priming in schizophrenia: a MEG study. Poster presented at the Society for Neuroscience 35th Annual Meeting, Washington D.C., November 2005.
Purdy, J.D. & Froud, K. L1 typology and electrophysiological responses to L2 sentence processing. Presentation at Second Language Research Forum, Teachers College, Columbia University, October 2005.
Froud, K., Galgano, J., Young, J. & Hirsch, J. Effects of morphological complexity and lexicality: results from fMRI and EEG. Poster presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society 12th Annual Meeting, New York, NY, April 2005.
Purdy, J.D. & Froud, K. Electrophysiological evidence for L1 interference in L2 sentence processing. Poster presented at the Organization for Human Brain Mapping 11th Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada, June 2005.
Young, J. & Froud, K. The N400 in a case of developmental language disorder. Poster presented at the Organization for Human Brain Mapping 11th Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada, June 2005.
Galgano, J. & Froud, K. An electroencephalographic study of the readiness potential associated with true vocal fold adduction and the onset of phonation in adults. Poster presented at the Organization for Human Brain Mapping 11th Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada, June 2005.
Froud, K. & van der Lely, H.K.J. Children with G-SLI and Lexical-SLI: Ontological categories, syntactic knowledge, and children’s induction of word meaning. Presentation at the 23rd Annual Symposium on Research in Child Language, University of Wisconsin, Madison. June, 2002.
Froud, K. A lexical / functional distinction in acquired dyslexia: a syntactic account at the single word level? Presentation at Manchester University Postgraduate Linguistics Conference, Manchester, UK, October 1999.
Froud, K. & Druks, J. The syntax of single words: a single case study of an acquired aphasic deficit. Presentation at Bressanone Annual Neuropsychology Conference, May 1998.
INVITED TALKS
Froud, K. & Clarkson, K. Medical Speech-Language Pathology. Invited talk at University of Kelaniye, Colombo, Sri Lanka, June 2011.
Froud, K. Neuroimaging research in communication sciences and disorders: challenges and perspectives. Invited talk at Adelphi University, New York, February 2011.
Froud, K., Tsakali, V. & Wexler, K. Late maturation of Raising in English: evidence from typically developing children. Invited talk at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, March 2010.
Khamis-Dakwar, R. & Froud, K. Lexical Processing in two language varieties: An event-related brain potential study of Arabic native speakers. Invited talk at the Stony Brook Linguistic Colloquium, Stony Brook University, New York, November 2009.
Khamis-Dakwar, R. & Froud, K. Neurophysiological Evidence for Codeswitching in Diglossia. Invited talk at City University of New York Graduate Center, New York, November 2007.
Khamis-Dakwar, R. & Froud, K. Diglossia through a neuroscientific lens: new research perspectives. Invited talk at the Israeli Academy, Van Leer, Jerusalem, July 2007.
Froud, K. & Khamis-Dakwar, R. Neuroscience and language development. Invited talk to the Jordanian Teachers Delegation, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York NY, July 2007.
Froud, K. Schizophrenia as a disorder of thought, or language? Evidence from brain and behavioral investigations. Invited talk at Department of Phonetics & Linguistics, University College London, UK, September 2006.
Froud, K. A magnetoencephalographic study of lexical processing and formal thought disorder in schizophrenia. Invited talk at 16th Annual Scientific Symposium of the National Alliance for Research into Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders. New York, NY, October 2005.
Froud, K. Neuropsychology and Language. Invited talk at Department of Speech Sciences, City University London, April, 2001.
Froud, K. & Druks, J. The syntax of single words: morphological representation in a case of acquired aphasia. Invited presentation, Department of Phonetics and Linguistics, University College London, September 2000.
Froud, K. Neurolinguistics and acquired language disorders. Department of Speech Sciences, City University, London, November 1999.