| Morton Ann Gernsbacher | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Fields: | Psychology Psycholinguistics |
| Workplaces: | University of Wisconsin–Madison University of Oregon |
| Alma Mater: | University of North Texas University of Texas at Dallas University of Texas at Austin |
| Doctoral Advisor: | Donald Foss |
| Known For: | Structure building model of language comprehension, research on language processing in people with autism |
Morton Ann Gernsbacher is an American psychologist who is Vilas Research Professor and Sir Frederic Bartlett Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is a specialist in autism and psycholinguistics and has written and edited professional and lay books and over 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on these subjects.[1] She is currently on the advisory board of the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest and associate editor for Cognitive Psychology, and she has previously held editorial positions for Memory & Cognition and Language and Cognitive Processes. She was also president of the Association for Psychological Science in 2007.[2]
Gernsbacher received a B.A. from the University of North Texas in 1976, an M.S. from University of Texas at Dallas in 1980, and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in human experimental psychology in 1983. She was employed at the University of Oregon from 1983 to 1992 before joining the faculty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she has remained ever since.[3]
Gernsbacher's research focuses on the cognitive processes and mechanisms that underlie language comprehension. She has challenged the view that language processing depends upon language-specific mechanisms, proposing instead that it draws on general cognitive processes such as working memory and pattern recognition. Motivated by the diagnosis of her son in 1998, much of Gernsbacher's research has focused on the cognitive and neurological processes of people with autism.[4] As a result of investigating the language development of children with autism, Gernsbacher has posited that the speech difficulties associated with autism stem from motor planning challenges, not from intellectual limitations or social impairment. The implications of this perspective include a shift in focus from deficits in interpersonal communication to early sensory-motor challenges of children with autism, as well as recognition of previously unidentified competence in nonverbal children with autism.[5]
Gernsbacher is married and has one child.