Professor, Communication Science and Disorders University of Pittsburgh Email: Tompkins@csd.pitt.edu Lab Website: http://www.shrs.pitt.edu/csd/about/faculty/tompkins.html

Ph. D., University of Washington

Research Interests

My major interests involve the cognitive underpinnings of neurologic communication disorders in adults. My primary research aims to understand communicative impairments that follow right hemisphere brain damage, drawing on constructs and models from cognitive psychology and psycholinguistics. A secondary research interest focuses on psychosocial responses to neurologic conditions. I also have research and teaching interests in aphasia, other adult neurologic language disorders, and cognition and communication in normal aging.

Recent Publications

• Baumgaertner A, Tompkins CA: Testing contrasting accounts of word meaning activation in Broca. Aphasiology 16(4-6): 397-411, 2002.
• Tompkins CA, Lehman-Blake M, Baumgaertner A, Fassbinder W: Characterizing comprehension difficulties after right brain damage: Attentional demands of suppression function. Aphasiology 16: 559-572, 2002.
• Tompkins CA, Lustig AP: Research principles for the clinician. In R. Chapey (Ed), Language intervention strategies in adult aphasia (4th ed), Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 129-147, 2001.
• Tompkins CA, Lehman-Blake MT, Baumgaertner A, Fassbinder W: Mechanisms of discourse comprehension impairment after right hemisphere brain damage: Suppression in inferential ambiguity resolution. J Speech Lang Hear Res 44: 400-415, 2001.
• Tompkins CA, Baumgaertner A, Lehman MT, Fassbinder W. Mechanisms of discourse comprehension impairment after right hemisphere brain damage: Suppression in lexical ambiguity resolution. J Speech Lang Hear Res 43: 62-78, 2000.
• Tompkins CA, Lehman MT: Interpreting intended meanings after right hemisphere brain damage: An analysis of evidence, potential account, and clinical implications. Top Stroke Rehabil 5: 29-47, 1998.
• Tompkins CA, Lehman MT, Wyatt AD, Schulz R: Functional outcome assessment of adults with right hemisphere brain damage. Semin Speech Lang 19: 303-321, 1998.
• Spencer KA, Tompkins CA Schulz R:  Assessment of depression in patients with brain pathology: The case of stroke. Psychol Bull 122: 132-152, 1997.