How does the brain make meaning?
We study concepts, language, and the neural systems that let us understand the world.
01 / Research
Meaning is a whole-brain achievement.
DeLab investigates the brain bases of language, especially meaning and semantics. We ask how concepts are represented, how language draws on perception and action, and what changes when these systems are affected by disease or injury.
Our current questions ↓Concepts & semantics
How are concepts represented and processed in the brain? We examine the relation between conceptual knowledge and perception–action systems.
Language in the wild
We study how the brain processes time, space, action, metaphor, and naturalistic language.
Brain health & recovery
Our work examines semantic processing in stroke and Parkinson’s disease, with an eye toward improving outcomes.
NeuroAI
Brains and language models, in conversation.
We study what large language models can reveal about human conceptual knowledge—and where their representations meaningfully diverge from the brain.
How we work
From behavior to brain networks.
We connect complementary methods to answer questions at multiple levels of analysis.
- Functional MRI fMRI
- Lesion-symptom mapping
- Transcranial stimulation TMS / tDCS
- Computational modeling
- Behavioral studies
02 / People
Curious minds,
shared questions.
Meet the people who make DeLab a collaborative place to think, test, and discover.
Meet the lab →
Columbia, South Carolina
A campus built for curiosity.
DeLab is part of a vibrant research community at the University of South Carolina, where interdisciplinary collaboration moves ideas from question to discovery.
Explore the USC campus ↗
03 / Publications
Ideas made public.
Selected recent work from the lab.
Improving Lexicosemantic Impairments in Post-Stroke Aphasia Using rTMS Targeting the Right Anterior Temporal Lobe.
↗ 2026Stroke Lesions as a Rosetta Stone for Language Model Interpretability.
↗ 2024What we mean when we say semantic: Toward a multidisciplinary semantic glossary.
↗ Browse all publications→04 / Open science
Data & tools for discovery.
Selected datasets and research software from the lab are available for public use through the Open Science Framework.
Explore resources ↗05 / Join us
Make meaning with us.
We welcome students and researchers with interests in concept representation, semantics, psycholinguistics, cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and computational approaches.
Undergraduate research assistant positions are anticipated beginning Fall 2027.
Get in touch →