Vitor Zimmerer
I am a lecturer at UCL's Department of Language and Cognition. Most of my work is on grammatical processing in a range of pathologies including aphasia, dementia and schizophrenia. In many pathologies, we see a change in language. I try to characterize language profiles in different clinical populations as well as across the healthy lifespan, and see how this knowledge can be applied in diagnosis and to track cognitive change.
I developed computerized methods for language analysis, using corpus-based methods and a usage-based framework.
I was co-investigator in a project on formulaic language in dementia, funded by the Alzheimer's Society, and a member of a consortium to accelerate research into speech and language biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease, funded by the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation.
I received a MA from the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf and a PhD from the University of Sheffield.
@UCL
@Researchgate
@Twitter
www.vitorzimmerer.net
Key publications
Zimmerer, V.C., Hardy, C.J.D., Eastman, J., Dutta, S., Varnet, L., Bond, R.L., Russell, L., Rohrer, J.D., Warren, J.D., Varley, R.A. (2020). Automated profiling of spontaneous speech in primary progressive aphasia and behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia: An approach based on usage-frequency. Cortex, 133, 103-119.
Zimmerer, V.C., Newman, L., Thompson, R., Coleman, M., Varley, R.A. (2018). Automated analysis of language production in aphasia and right-hemisphere damage: frequency and collocation strength. Aphasiology, 32, 1267-1283.
Zimmerer, V.C., Watson, S., Turkington, D., Ferrier, I.N., Hinzen, W. (2017). Deictic and propositional meaning - new perspectives on language in schizophrenia. Frontiers in Psychiatry, doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2017.00017
Zimmerer, V.C., Wibrow, M., Varley, R.A. (2016). Formulaic Language in People with Probable Alzheimer's Disease: A Frequency-Based Approach. Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD, doi:10.3233/JAD-160099
Zimmerer, V.C., Dabrowska, E., Romanowski, C.A.J., Blank, C., Varley, R.A. (2014). Preservation of passive constructions in a patient with primary progressive aphasia. Cortex, 50 (1), 7-18. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2013.09.007
Zimmerer, V.C., Cowell, P.E., Varley, R.A. (2013). Artificial grammar learning in individuals with severe aphasia. Neuropsychologia, 53, 25-38.