Tamar H. Gollan, Ph.D.
Associate Adjunct Professor
Phone #: (858) 552-8585 x2780
FAX #: (858) 642-6393
E-mail: tgollan@ucsd.edu

Biography
Dr. Gollan received her B.A. from Brandeis University, a Ph.D. in clinical and cognitive neuropsychology from the University of Arizona, and completed an internship in clinical neuropsychology at UCSD, and post-doctoral fellowships at UCSD and Pomona college where she taught classes on Cognitive Science and Cognitive Neuropsychology. Dr. Gollan is a faculty member of the UCSD/SDSU Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, and also mentors undergraduate research as part of the Faculty Mentor Program and the McNair Program for students who are underrepresented in graduate education. Dr. Gollan’s research is funded by a Career Development Award (K23) from NIDCD/NIH.

Research Focus
How does bilingualism affect cognitive functioning? Bilinguals know roughly twice as many words as monolinguals, and Dr. Gollan’s research suggests that this doubled load produces significant, but subtle and very specific, differences between bilinguals and monolinguals. Dr. Gollan’s research projects often involve comparing bilinguals to monolinguals to 1) identify which tasks bilinguals perform differently, and 2) develop explanations of the differences and similarities between groups. Research on bilinguals is also interesting because it constrains theories of language processing, memory functioning, and other cognitive abilities. For more details about Dr. Gollan’s research, visit her personal web page at http://psychiatry.ucsd.edu/tamarGollan.html

Clinical Focus
Diagnosing cognitive impairments in bilinguals is more complicated than in monolinguals. Tests commonly used to inform diagnoses of cognitive functioning were designed for use with monolinguals, and normal bilinguals perform differently on some of these tests. Sometimes these test performance differences may erroneously suggest an "abnormality" when in fact they simply reflect the normal consequences of bilingualism. The clinical goals that motivate Dr. Gollan’s research are 1) to determine whether performance differences between bilinguals and monolinguals will interfere with the detection of cognitive impairment in bilinguals, and 2) to develop tests that cater more specifically to assessment of bilinguals.

Selected Publications:

• Gollan, T.H., Montoya, R.I., Fennema-Notestine, C., Morris, S.K., (in press). Bilingualism affects picture naming but not picture classification. Memory & Cognition
• Gollan, T.H., Bonanni, M.P., & Montoya, R.I. (2005). Proper names get stuck on bilingual and monolingual speakers tip-of-the-tongue equally often. Neuropsychology, 19
• Gollan, T.H. & Acenas, L.A. (2004). What is a TOT?: Cognate and translation effects on tip-of-the-tongue states in Spanish-English and Tagalog-English bilinguals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 30, 246-269.
• Gollan, T.H., Montoya, R.I., Werner, G.A. (2002). Semantic and letter fluency in Spanish-English bilinguals. Neuropsychology, 16, 562-576.
• Gollan, T.H., Forster, K.I., & Frost, R. (1997). Translation priming with different scripts: Masked priming with cognates and non-cognates in Hebrew-English bilinguals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 23, 1122-1139.