Jennifer Rodd
 |
Jennifer Mary Rodd | |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge University of Edinburgh |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University College London University of Cambridge |
| Thesis | Semantic representation and lexical competition : evidence from ambiguity (2001) |
Jennifer Mary Rodd is a British psychologist who is Professor of Cognitive Psychology at University College London. Her research investigates how people learn and process words and their meanings.[1]
Early life and education
[edit]Rodd completed her secondary education at Olchfa School in Swansea. She then studied natural sciences at the University of Cambridge.[2] She moved to the University of Edinburgh for graduate studies, where she specialised in cognitive science. She returned to the MRC CBU in Cambridge for her doctorate supervised by Prof William Marslen-Wilson, where she investigated how word meanings are processed. Her experiments showed that while words with multiple related senses are recognised faster, words with multiple unrelated meanings are recognised more slowly due to competition between meanings.
Rodd returned to the University of Cambridge and joined Peterhouse as a Research Fellow in the Department of Experimental Psychology. She then moved to University College London as a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow.[3]
Research and career
[edit]Rodd works in the Department of Experimental Psychology within the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences at University College London. She was programme director of the BSc/Msci Psychology (2021-2023)[4] and is now Director of Education for the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences.[5] The lab studies how children and adults learn new words, how they access the meanings of words when reading or listening to speech, and why some people are better than others at understanding words.[6]
In 2025 she was awarded the Mid-Career Prize by the Experimental Psychology Society.[7] Her prize lecture was titled "Word Meanings: Are they accessed or constructed?".[8]
Selected publications
[edit]- Jennifer M. Rodd. (2020). "Settling into semantic space: An ambiguity-focused account of word-meaning access".Perspectives on Psychological Science 15 (2), 411-427. doi:10.1177/1745691619885860.
- Jennifer M. Rodd; Matthew H Davis; Ingrid S Johnsrude (5 January 2005). "The neural mechanisms of speech comprehension: fMRI studies of semantic ambiguity". Cerebral Cortex. 15 (8): 1261–1269. doi:10.1093/CERCOR/BHI009. ISSN 1047-3211. PMID 15635062. Wikidata Q34382126.
- Jennifer Rodd; Gareth Gaskell; William Marslen-Wilson (February 2002). "Making Sense of Semantic Ambiguity: Semantic Competition in Lexical Access". Journal of Memory and Language. 46 (2): 245–266. doi:10.1006/JMLA.2001.2810. ISSN 0749-596X. Wikidata Q54239433.
- M R Coleman; Matthew H Davis; Jennifer M. Rodd; T Robson; A Ali; A M Owen; J D Pickard (1 September 2009). "Towards the routine use of brain imaging to aid the clinical diagnosis of disorders of consciousness". Brain. 132 (Pt 9): 2541–2552. doi:10.1093/BRAIN/AWP183. ISSN 0006-8950. PMID 19710182. Wikidata Q34999707.
Personal life
[edit]Rodd receive a kidney transplant from her brother in 2020.[9][10]
She is currently secretary of Meridian Triathlon Club.[11]
References
[edit]- ↑ "Discovery". profiles.ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-05-13.
- ↑ "Discovery". profiles.ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-05-13.
- ↑ "Discovery". profiles.ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-05-13.
- ↑ Anonymous. "Professor Jennifer Rodd | UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences". www.ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-05-13.
- ↑ "Discovery". profiles.ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-05-13.
- ↑ "The Word Lab at UCL". The Word Lab at UCL. Retrieved 2026-04-24.
- ↑ "EPS Mid-Career Award Winners". Experimental Psychology Society. 2017-11-09. Retrieved 2026-05-13.
- ↑ Experimental Psychology Society (2025-06-16). Jenni Rodd - Joint 23rd EPS Mid-Career Lecture (2025). Retrieved 2026-05-13 – via YouTube.
- ↑ darcy.sutton@ucl.ac.uk. "Professor Jennifer Rodd | UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences". www.ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 2026-04-24.
- ↑ "Siblings take on charity ride to mark kidney transplant anniversary". Royston Crow. 2021-09-07. Retrieved 2026-05-14.
- ↑ "Committee Members – Meridian Triathlon Club". www.meridiantriclub.co.uk. Retrieved 2026-05-15.
