Neurobiology of Language and Behavior (NoLaB) Lab
Dr. Sladjana Lukic is an Assistant Professor in the School of Communication Science and Disorders and Director of the Neurobiology of Language and Behavior Lab (NoLaB Lab) at Florida State University (FSU). She has extensive experience using structural brain imaging to explore the relationship between lesion/atrophy characteristics and behavioral measures across stroke and progressive aphasias.
Her work is organized into three key research teams:
(1) The first line of research focuses on the development of a sensitive and clinically relevant metrics system of natural language production by integrating MRI and AI technology to support clinical decision-making, monitoring, and treatment-response in aphasia.
(2) The second line of research focuses on using implementation science to involve speech-language pathologists and other healthcare professionals in regularly assessing conversational linguistic abilities, alongside traditional structured language tests, in both clinical and home settings. The goal is to detect and improve real-life language use for individuals with aphasia.
(3) The third line of research explores the role of language in emotions and other cognitive systems in the context of aging and how dysfunction in one system might impact the other.
Education
Northwestern University at Evanston, IL, Ph.D., 2016, Communication Sciences and Disorders
Northwestern University at Evanston, IL, MA, 2012, Communication Sciences and Disorders
University of Belgrade at Belgrade, Serbia, B.A, MA, 2003, Speech-Language Pathology
Teaching Interests
research evaluation, neural bases of communication, language science
Publications & Research
1. Lukic, S., Fan, Z., Garcia., A., Welch, A., Madelli, M.L., Wilson, S., Miller, B., & Gorno-Tempini, M. L. (2024). Discriminating nonfluent/agrammatic and logopenic PPA variants with automatically extracted morphosyntactic measures from connected speech. Cortex. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2023.12.013
2. Barbieri, E., Lukic, S., Rogalski, E., Weintraub, S., Mesulam, M-M., Thompson, C.K. (2023). Neural mechanisms of sentence production: a volumetric study of primary progressive aphasia, Cerebral Cortex. bhad470. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhad470
3. Lorca-Puls, D. L., Gajardo-Vidal, A., Mandelli, M. L., … Lukic, S., Boxer, A. L., ... & Gorno-Tempini, M. L. (2023). Neural basis of speech and grammar symptoms in non-fluent variant primary progressive aphasia spectrum. Brain, awad327. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awad327
4. Lukic, S., Kosik, E. L., Roy, A. R., Morris, N., Sible, I. J., ... & Sturm, V. E. (2023). Higher emotional granularity relates to greater inferior frontal cortex cortical thickness in healthy, older adults. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-023-01119-y
5. Lukic*, S., Krauska*, A., Yoshida, M., & Thompson, C. K. (2023). The role of category ambiguity in normal and impaired lexical processing: can you paint without the paint?. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 17, 188. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2023.1028378
6. Lukic*, S., Licata*, A. E., Weis, E., Bogley, R., Ratnasiri, B., Welch, A., … Borghesani, V. (2022). Auditory verb generation performance patterns dissociate variants of Primary Progressive Aphasia. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 887591. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.887591
7. García, A. M., Welch, A. E., Mandelli, M. L., Henry, M. L., Lukic, S., Prioris, M. J. T., ... & Gorno-Tempini, M. L. (2022). Automated detection of speech timing alterations in autopsy-confirmed nonfluent/agrammatic variant primary progressive aphasia. Neurology, 99(5), e500-e511. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000200750
8. Lukic, S., Borghesani, V., Weis, E., Welch, A., Bogley, R., Neuhaus, J., ... & Gorno-Tempini, M. L. (2021). Dissociating nouns and verbs in temporal and perisylvian networks: Evidence from neurodegenerative diseases. Cortex, 142, 47-61. 10.1016/j.cortex.2021.05.006
9. Lukic*, S., Thompson*, C. K., Barbieri, E., Chiappetta, B., Bonakdarpour, B., Kiran, S., ... & Caplan, D. (2021). Common and Distinct Neural Substrates of Sentence Production and Comprehension. NeuroImage, 117374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117374
10. Borghesani, V., Dale, C., Lukic, S., Hinkley, L., Lauricella, M., Shwe, W., Honma, S., Miller, Z., Miller, B. L., Houde, J., Gorno-Tempini, M. L., Nagarajan, S. S. (2021). Semantic categories in a faulty semanic system: evidence from semantic variant of Primary Progressive Aphasia. eLife, 10:e63905. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.63905
11. Staffaroni, A. M., Weintraub, S., Rascovsky, K., Rankin, K. P., Taylor, J., Fields, J. A.,Casaletto, K. B., Hillis, A. E., Lukic, S.,... & Kramer, J. H. (2021). Uniform data set language measures for bvFTD and PPA diagnosis and monitoring. Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, 13(1), e12148. https://doi.org/10.1002/dad2.12148
12. Stiver, J., Staffaroni, A. M., Walters, S. M., You, M. Y., Casaletto, K. B., Erlhoff, S. J., Possin, K. L., Lukic, S., …, M. E., Gorno-Tempini, M. L., & Kramer, J. H. (2021). The Rapid Naming Test: Development and initial validation in typically aging adults. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 36(7), 1822-1843. 10.1080/13854046.2021.1900399
13. Lukic, S., Meltzer-Asscher, A., Higgins, J., Parrish, T., & Thompson, C. K. (2019). Neurocognitive Correlates of Category Ambiguous Verb Processing: The single versus dual lexical entry hypotheses. Brain and language, 194, 65-76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2019.04.005
14. Lukic, S., Mandelli, M. L., Welch, A., Jordan, K., Shwe, W., Neuhaus, J., ... & Gorno-Tempini, M. L. (2019). Neurocognitive basis of repetition deficits in primary progressive aphasia. Brain and language, 194, 35-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2019.04.003
15. Lukic, S., Barbieri, E., Wang, X., Caplan, D., Kiran, S., Rapp, B., Parrish, T., & Thompson, C. K. (2017). Right Hemisphere Grey Matter Volume and Language Functions in Stroke Aphasia. Neural Plasticity, 1-114. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/5601509
My Bibliography: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/sladjana.lukic.1/bibliography/public/
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7009-3474
Grants & Awards
Schwab Dyslexia and Cognitive Diversity Center Innovation Grant Award ($98,328): The Auditory Verbal Short-Term Memory Deficits in Dyslexia. (funded in April, 2021; PI: Sladjana Lukic, Ph.D)