Rachel Ryskin
About
I’m an Associate Professor of Cognitive & Information Sciences at the University of California, Merced where I lead the Language, Interaction, & Cognition (LInC) lab.
My research largely centers around a fundamental question: How do humans understand each other? Language allows humans to transfer thoughts across minds, transforming individual cognition into collective intelligence. I study how humans use language to communicate on multiple timescales, including how people use all manner of contextual information (visuo-spatial perspective, the speaker’s knowledge state, language statistics, etc.) to make predictions and infer meaning from noisy input in real time, how conversation partners adapt to each other over the course of an interaction, how language and its relationship to other cognitive systems (e.g., executive function) changes over the lifespan or as a result of neural damage, and how changes in the language as a whole emerge from—and result in—variation in language use across individuals. Recently, I have begun investigating how communication with Large Language Models (LLMs) mirrors or diverges from human communication, using these comparisons to gain insights into both biological and artificial cognitive systems. To answer these questions, I take a multi-method approach including behavioral experiments, eye-tracking, EEG, corpus analyses, computational modeling, and—in collaboration with other labs—cross-cultural fieldwork, fMRI, and neuropsychology. This work has been funded by the NIH, the University of California Office of the President, and an NSF CAREER award.
Publications
2026 / Preprints / To appear
Billot, A., Varkanitsa, M., Jhingan, N., Carvalho, N., Falconer, I., Small, H., Ryskin, R., Blank, I., Fedorenko, E., & Kiran, S. (preprint) Language comprehension in chronic aphasia relies on the language network, not the Multiple Demand network. bioRxiv
Williams, T., Setzler, M., Aswamenakul, C., Ryskin, R., Spivey, M. J., Kim, M., & Marghetis, T. (preprint). Musical improvisation reveals the fine-grained foraging dynamics of collective innovation. OSF
Billot, A., Jhingan, N., Varkanitsa, M., Wolna, A., Shain, C., Blank, I., Ryskin, R., Kiran, S., & Fedorenko, E. (preprint) The language network ages well: topography, lateralization, selectivity, and within-network functional connectivity in older brains. bioRxiv
2025
Cain, E. & Ryskin, R. (2025) Semantic representations are updated across the lifespan reflecting diachronic language change. Open Mind
Ryskin, R., Gawel, O., Tanzer, O., Pailo, V., & Kello, C. (2025). Efficient Audience Design in LLMs. In Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (Vol. 47).
Chao, A., Cain, E., & Ryskin, R. (2025). Language experience and prediction across the lifespan: evidence from diachronic fine-tuning of language models. In Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (Vol. 47).
Gokcen, Y., Noelle, D. C., & Ryskin, R. (2025). The Role of Context Gating in Predictive Sentence Processing. In Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (Vol. 47).
Li, J., Ortega, A. V., Futrell, R., & Ryskin, R. (2025). Adaptation to noisy language input in real time: Evidence from ERPs. In Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (Vol. 47).
James, A. N., Ryskin, R., Hartshorne, J. K., Backs, H., Bala, N., Barcenas-Meade, L., Bhattarai, S., Charles, T., Copoulos, G., Coss, C., Eisert, A., Furuhashi, E., Ginell, K., Guttman-McCabe, A., Hoban, L., Hwang, W. A., Iannetta, C., Koenig, K. M., Lo, C., … de Leeuw, J. R. (2025). What Paradigms Can Webcam Eye-Tracking Be Used For? Attempted Replications of Five Cognitive Science Experiments. Collabra: Psychology, 11(1).
Cain, E., Ryskin, R., & Yu, C. (2025) Cross-Situational Statistics Present in an Early Language Learning Context: Evidence From Naturalistic Parent–Child Interactions. Cognitive Science. [PDF]
Ryskin, R., Gibson, E., & Kiran, S. (2025) Noisy-channel language comprehension in aphasia: A Bayesian mixture modeling approach. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.
Ball L., Mak M., Ryskin R., Curtis A., Rodd J., Gaskell MG. (2025) The Contribution of Learning and Memory Processes to Verb-Specific Syntactic Processing. Journal of Memory & Language.
2024
Cain, E. & Ryskin, R. (2024). Diachronic change in verb usage statistics predicts differences in sentence processing across the lifespan. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Cognitive Modeling and Computational Linguistics, pages 221–230, Bangkok, Thailand. Association for Computational Linguistics.
Poliak, M., Ryskin, R., Braginsky, M., & Gibson, E. (2024). It’s Not What You Say but How You Say It: Evidence from Russian Shows Robust Effects of the Structural Prior on Noisy Channel Inferences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition
Williams, T., Setzler, M., Kim, M., Ryskin, R. A., Spivey, M., & Marghetis, T. (2024). Professional Jazz Musicians Explore and Exploit a Space of Sounds. Proceedings of the Cognitive Science Society.
2023
Ryskin, R. & Spivey, M. (2023). Toward sophisticated
models of naturalistic language behavior. Physics of Life
Reviews. [PDF].
Comment on “Beyond Simple
Laboratory Studies” by A. Maselli et al. (2023)
Ricciardi, G., Ryskin, R., & Gibson, E. (2023). Assessing the inferential strength of epistemic ‘must’. Language
Ryskin, R. & Nieuwland, M. (2023). Prediction during language comprehension: what is next? Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Cain, E. & Ryskin, R. (2023). Diachronic Language Change and Its Influence on Lexico-semantic Representations Across the Lifespan. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Sydney, AUS
Chen, S., Nathaniel, S., Ryskin, R., & Gibson, E. (2023). The effect of context on noisy-channel sentence comprehension. Cognition
Ryskin, R., Salinas, M., Piantadosi, S., & Gibson, E. (2023). Real-time inference in communication across cultures: evidence from a non-industrialized society. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. [PsyArXiv]
Chen, X., Affourtit, J., Ryskin, R., Regev, T., Norman-Haignere, S., Jouravlev, O., Malik-Moraleda, S., Kean, H., Varley, R., & Fedorenko, E. (2023). The human language system does not support music processing. Cerebral Cortex [bioRxiv]
Zhang, Z., Bergen, L., Paunov, A., Ryskin, R., & Gibson, E. (2023). Scalar Implicature is Sensitive to Contextual Alternatives. Cognitive Science, 47(2), e13238.
Zhang, Y., Ryskin, R., & Gibson, E. (2023). A Noisy-Channel Approach to Depth-Charge Illusions. Cognition. [Preprint]
2022
Fedorenko, E., Ryskin, R., Gibson, E. (2022). Agrammatic output in non-fluent/Broca’s aphasia as a rational behavior. Aphasiology
Cain, E., Ryskin, R., & Yu, C. (2022). Quantifying cross-situational statistics during parent-child toy play. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Toronto, CA
Rezaii, N., Mahowald, K, Ryskin, R., Dickerson, B. & Gibson, E. (2022). A Lexico-Syntactic Trade-off in Language Production: Evidence from Primary Progressive Aphasia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119 (25). e2120203119.
Liu, Y., Ryskin, R., Futrell, R., & Gibson, E. (2022). A verb-frame frequency account of constraints on long-distance dependencies in English. Cognition, 222, 104902.
2021
Ryskin, R., Bergen, L., & Gibson, E. (2021, preprint). Agreement errors are predicted by rational inference in sentence processing. [PsyArXiv]
Ryskin, R., & Fang, X. (2021). The Many Timescales of Context in Language Processing. Psychology of Learning and Motivation. [PDF]
Ryskin, R., Stearns, L., Bergen, L., Eddy, M., Fedorenko, E., & Gibson, E. (2021). An ERP index of real-time error correction within a noisy-channel framework of human communication. Neuropsychologia, 158, 107855. [UC Open Access]
2020
Ryskin, R., Stevenson, S., & Heller, D. (2020). Probabilistic weighting of perspectives in dyadic communication. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society. [PDF] [data & code]
Ryskin, R., Levy, R. P., & Fedorenko, E. (2020). Do domain-general executive resources play a role in linguistic prediction? Re-evaluation of the evidence and a path forward. Neuropsychologia, 136, 107258. [PDF]
2019
Ryskin, R., Kurumada, C., & Brown‐Schmidt, S. (2019). Information integration in modulation of pragmatic inferences during online language comprehension. Cognitive science, 43(8), e12769. [OSF project] [PDF]
Ryskin, R., Ng, S., Mimnaugh, K., Brown-Schmidt, S., & Federmeier, K. D. (2019). Talker-specific predictions during language processing. Language, Cognition, & Neuroscience, 35 (6). 797-812. [OSF project] [Free download]
2018
Ryskin, R. Futrell, R., Kiran, S., & Gibson, E. (2018). Comprehenders model the nature of noise in the environment. Cognition, 181. 141-150. Preregistration Challenge Winner [OSF project] [Manuscript PDF]
Ryskin, R., Qi, Z., Covington, N. V., Duff, M., & Brown-Schmidt, S. (2018). Knowledge and learning of verb biases in amnesia. Brain and Language, 180-182. 62–83. [Manuscript PDF]
2017
Ryskin, R. & Brown-Schmidt, S. (2017). The
malleability of linguistic representations poses a challenge to the
priming-based experimental approach. Behavioral and Brain Sciences,
40, E309. [PDF]
Commentary on Branigan & Pickering (2017), An Experimental
Approach to Linguistic Representation.
Ryskin, R., Qi, Z., Duff, M., & Brown-Schmidt, S. (2017). Verb biases are shaped through lifelong learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 43. 781-794. [PDF]
2016
Ryskin, R., Wang, R. F., & Brown-Schmidt, S. (2016). Listeners use speaker identity to access representations of spatial perspective during online language comprehension. Cognition, 147, 75-84. [PDF]
2015
Ryskin, R., Benjamin, A. S., Tullis, J. & Brown-Schmidt, S. (2015). Perspective-taking in comprehension, production, and memory: an individual differences approach. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,144, 898-915. [PDF]
Ryskin, R.., Yoon, S., & Brown-Schmidt (2015). Language, Memory, and Perspectives, in Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences (eds.) Robert Scott and Stephen Kosslyn, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons. [PDF]
Brown-Schmidt, S., Yoon, S., & Ryskin, R. A. (2015). People as Contexts in Conversation. In B. H. Ross (Ed.), Psychology of Learning and Motivation, Vol. 62, pp. 59-99. San Diego, CA: Elsevier Academic Press. [PDF]
2014
Ryskin, R., Brown-Schmidt, S., Canseco-Gonzalez, E., Yiu, L., & Nguyen, E. (2014). Visuospatial perspective-taking in conversation and the role of bilingual experience. Journal of Memory and Language, 74, 46-76. [PDF]
Ryskin, R. & Brown-Schmidt, S. (2014). Do adults show a curse of knowledge in false-belief reasoning? A robust estimate of the true effect size. PLoS ONE, 9(3): e92406. [PDF]
Rapp, D.N., Hinze, S.R., Kohlhepp, K., & Ryskin, R. (2014). Reducing reliance on inaccurate information. Memory & Cognition, 42, 11-26.[PDF]