Dustin Alfonso Chacón

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Adjunct Assistant Professor

The core question of my research is: How does the brain – an organ that is virtually the same across the species – manage to learn, use, and understand languages – which can be very different? Much of this research uses behavioral and electrophysiological (EEG/MEG) techniques to investigate how language users understand words and sentences moment-by-moment. This research is guided by insights from theoretical syntax/semantics, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience. I also have a special interest in the languages of South Asia (Bengali, Hindi, Nepali).

Recent projects investigate understanding patterns of brain activity associated with understanding case in split ergative languages (Hindi & Nepali), brain activity associated with processing morphologically complex words (Bengali), the role of world knowledge and compositional semantics in processing wh-dependencies (English), and the temporal dynamics of the neural language network while reading short sentences in one eye gaze (English).

Personal website

Areas of Interest:
Semantics
Syntax and Morphology
Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics
Specific Research Areas:

Predictive processing, syntactic processing, morphological processing, South Asian languages, case and agreement, filler-gap dependencies

Articles Featuring Dustin Alfonso Chacón
Undergraduate Linguistics student Zahin Hoque (right) poses with Dr. Chacón (left).

Linguistics Undergraduate Student Zahin Hoque Wins Fall 2023 CURO Research Award

The UGA Linguistics department congratulates Zahin Hoque on his receipt of a research award from UGA CURO (Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities). Only 500 of UGA’s 30,000 undergraduate students are awarded the $1,000 scholarship.

Dr. Chacón measures his brain data while viewing short sentences on a screen.

UGA Awards Linguistics Faculty Member with Seed Grant

This week, faculty member Dr. Dustin Chacón was awarded a Faculty Seed Grant from the University of Georgia’s Office of Research.

Ph.D. student Donnie Dunagan and Dr. Chacón run an experiment on the EEG machine.

Linguistics Lab EEG Machine is Up and Running!

 The Linguistics department is excited to announce that our Brainvision EEG machine is up and running! Last week, Dr. Dustin Chacón recorded the brain waves of our first brave subject, Ph.D. student Donnie Dunagan.

Contact Information

duchacon@ucsc.edu

Other Information

Professional Web site: Personal Website
Other Affiliations: University of California, Santa Cruz

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