FROM FRAMED BIOGRAPHY AND PHOTOGRAPH HANGING IN DR. NADINE MARTIN'S LAB:
Dr. Eleanor M. Saffran (1938-2002) was one of the pioneers of Cognitive Neuropsychology with a career spanning some 35 years. Her interest in Neuropsychology began at Johns Hopkins University’s Baltimore City hospitals. At that time, her research unit was one of just a handful around the world in which neurological patients with language or cognitive impairments were being studied from the vantage point of cognitive psychology. In papers published between 1976 and 1982, Eleanor spelled out the methodological tenets of “cognitive neuropsychology” exemplified in her studies of aphasia, acquired dyslexia, word deafness, and short-term memory impairment. These seminal papers are among the most widely cited in the field today.
In 1980, Eleanor joined the Neurology Department of Temple University and established the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience. Here she built an interdisciplinary research group composed of neurologists, psychologists, and speech-language pathologists. Under her leadership, this group extended the cognitive neuropsychological approach to the analysis of neurological disorders of perception, visual attention, and semantics. These years also marked the continuation of her longstanding collaboration with Myrna Schwartz of Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, which began in Baltimore in 1975. An innovative aspect of their research was its emphasis on application of language theory to diagnosis and treatment of language disorders. This model was embraced by other researchers of language and remains a standard approach in aphasia research today. As the field of cognitive neuropsychology matured, Eleanor became recognized as one of its most influential practitioners. In 1989, her grant on the psycholinguistic analysis of language disorders was awarded the Claude Pepper Award of Excellence by the National Institute on Deafness and Communication Disorders.
In 1991, Eleanor was appointed as Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences at Temple University. In this position, she generously shared her extensive knowledge and great interest in language and cognition with her students, the next generation of speech-language pathologists and cognitive neuropsychologists. So great was Eleanor’s devotion to the students and faculty in Communication Sciences that she insisted on teaching her courses even after progression of a degenerative condition had weakened her speaking voice and use of her hands. In addition, her extraordinary contributions to research were recognized posthumously when she was awarded the Temple University Faculty Research Award for excellence in research in 2003.
Eleanor was an inspiration to all who knew her. She was an exemplary scholar, leaving an extraordinary legacy of contributions to the field of cognitive neuropsychology. She will always be remembered for these accomplishments, but also for her kindness and generosity to her friends, colleagues and students.
REFERENCES
Behrmann M, Patterson K. (Eds.) (2006) Words and Things: Cognitive Neuropsychological Studies in Tribute to Eleanor M. Saffran. Psychology Press.
Saffran EM, Coslett HB, Keener MT. (2003) Differences in word associations to pictures and words. Neuropsychologia. 41:1541-6.
Martin, N, Saffran EM. (2002) The relationship of input and output phonology in single word processing: Evidence from aphasia. Aphasiology, 16, 107-150.
Saffran EM. (2000) Aphasia and the relationship of language and brain. Seminars in Neurology. 20:409-18. Review.
Saffran EM. (2000) The organization of semantic memory: in support of a distributed model. Brain and Language, 71:204-12.
Saffran EM, Schwartz MF, Linebarger MC. (1998) Semantic influences on thematic role assignment: evidence from normals and aphasics. Brain and Language, 62:255-97.
Martin N, Saffran EM. (1997) Language and auditory-verbal short-term memory impairments: Evidence for common underlying processes. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 14:641–682.
Dell GS, Schwartz MF, Martin N, Saffran EM, Gagnon DA. (1997) Lexical access in aphasic and nonaphasic speakers. Psychological Review, 104:801-38.
Saffran EM, Schwartz MF. (1994) Impairment of sentence comprehension. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Biological Sciences, 346:47-53. Review.
Saffran EM, Berndt RS, Schwartz MF. (1989) The quantitative analysis of agrammatic production: procedure and data. Brain and Language. 37:440-79.
Linebarger MC, Schwartz MF, Saffran EM. (1983) Sensitivity to grammatical structure in so-called agrammatic aphasics. Cognition, 13:361-92.
Saffran EM, Schwartz MF, Marin OS. (1980) The word order problem in agrammatism. I. Comprehension. Brain and Language, 10:249-62.
Saffran EM, Schwartz MF, Marin OS. (1980) The word order problem in agrammatism. II. Production. Brain and Language. 10:263-80.
Saffran EM, Marin OS, Yeni-Komshian GH. (1976) An analysis of speech perception in word deafness. Brain and Language, 3:209-28.