My primary research interests center around  examining how we store information in semantic memory. In particular, my experiments attempt to draw a contrast between theories where category is the primary dimension on which semantic information is organized (Pylyshyn, 1973; Caramazza et al., 1990) and those where sensory modality is the primary dimension (Paivio, 1971; Beauvois, 1982; Shallice, 1987, 1988).

To this end I have performed a number of experiments (Gottlieb & Kaufman, 2000; Gottlieb, 2004; Gottlieb, 2005). I have also been examining how Plaut's (2002) graded specialization PDP model can be extended beyond just accounting for optic aphasia, but to account for other types of semantic deficits such as category- and modality-specific deficits, as well as for data from normal subjects.

Finally, I have interests in artificial intelligence and robotics, as well as cognitive science instruction, and am currently working with The Mind Project on their IRIS robots.