Jean Gordon

 

Jean K. Gordon
Associate Professor, Communication Sciences and Disorders
University of Iowa, United States

Jean K. Gordon, PhD, CCC-SLP is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Iowa, and a Speech-Language Pathologist certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. She obtained her Master of Science, then her doctorate, in Communication Sciences and Disorders at McGill University in Montréal. Before going to Iowa, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Cognitive Science at the Beckman Institute under the mentorship of Dr. Gary Dell. Dr. Gordon’s research focuses on the process of word retrieval in non-brain-damaged adults, and how that process can be disrupted by aging or brain damage. To investigate these issues, she uses a combination of behavioral experimentation and computational modeling approaches. The aims of this research are to clarify models of normal language production and the mechanisms of breakdown that occur in adult language disorders. An additional goal is to provide information to guide the treatment of those language disorders. Dr. Gordon teaches courses in communication in aging, and acquired neurogenic language disorders, such as those that result from stroke, traumatic brain injury, and dementia. She also supervises an aphasia support group as part of the Wendell Johnson Speech and Hearing Clinic.

Wisdom in Words: The Relationship between Language Use and the Perception of Wisdom
The current study explores the ambiguity of wisdom by focusing on how it is transmitted and perceived. Language is the medium by which wisdom-related knowledge is usually conveyed, and the sophistication of that language is proposed to significantly affect the spirit in which the knowledge is received. If one’s word choice and/or syntactic structure sound clever or profound, one is more likely to be perceived as wise. While wisdom is expected to increase with age, aspects of language use often decline with age. This may be why an age effect has been difficult to obtain in wisdom studies, and why society holds both negative and positive stereotypes of aging. If productive language use declines with age, despite the accrual of knowledge and life experience, then the ability to pass on acquired wisdom is also likely to decline.

To test this hypothesis, a pilot study is underway to establish the extent to which listeners’ perceptions are influenced by linguistic variables. Artificially manipulated language samples differing in grammatical complexity and word choice were created. The samples were written responses to two advice‐giving scenarios, such as what to say to a young girl who wants to run away from home. The study protocol was modified to have “listeners” read the transcripts of these responses, rather than listen to audio‐recorded versions. This was judged to be a more controlled test of the hypothesis, because it factors out vocal characteristics of the speaker which would likely influence perceptions of age and gender, and possibly other factors as well, such as educational level. (A follow‐up study could test these influences by comparing judgments of written and oral samples.) Young adult subjects were asked to read the responses and judge the speakers’ knowledge, judgment, sensitivity, perceptiveness, and ability to communicate ideas, as well as whether or not subjects agree with the advice provided in the responses. Subjects were also asked to estimate the speakers’ age and education levels. These ratings are designed to tap into dimensions of wisdom derived from the literature on explicit and implicit theories of wisdom (e.g. Sternberg, 1985). Gordon and her research team expect that language variables will affect these judgments, over and above the degree to which subjects agree with the response provided.

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